Donation scams increase after Hurricane Helene

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Bay County Sheriff’s officials say they see new scams every day.

Most of the scammers are based in foreign countries and mostly target the elderly. But anyone can become a victim.

Sheriff’s investigators say you should be on the lookout for scammers after a natural disaster, like Hurricane Helene.

“They will put up a fake web page instead of the legitimate web page of a legitimate nonprofit that’s trying to help these hurricane victims, they will take the same link, but they will make it dot com instead of dot org, or they will make it dot co instead of dot com,” Criminal Investigations Division Lieutenant Jeremy Mathis said.

Mathis urges people to do their homework. Check to see if the organization is verified before donating money. Look for spelling mistakes or an unprofessional design of the webpage.

“They will put that up and they will mimic that website as closely as they can to make it look like the real legitimate website,” Mathis said.

One of the more prolific scams involves forming an online romantic relationship. Mathis recommends breaking off all contact immediately.

“We’ve had cases here locally where people have continued to lose money because they are so convinced. And they build your confidence and build the victim’s confidence in them and their person or whatever persona they’re playing to take advantage of them,” Mathis said.

Mathis says to be wary if the relationship is only online and involves your bank account.
During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the sheriff’s office reaches out to previous victims.

“They will then go back to that person with a different persona or a different scam or a different con and try to get them that way. And so we try to educate them that this may happen. They may reach out to them again, and so we try to talk to the people who have already been victimized to prevent them from being victimized in a different way,” Mathis added.

When the scammer is outside of the country, it’s more difficult for sheriff’s officials to intervene.

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