Giving safely: scams, pressure and warning signs

01

Watch for shopping-pressure tactics

• ✓One pressure tactic can start with a small request outside a store, such as help buying food, diapers, or another basic item, followed by a request to shop together.
• ✓Once inside, the person may add more items than were agreed to, choose expensive items, or place clothing and other purchases in the cart while counting on embarrassment or guilt to make the helper pay.
• ✓If you want to help, decide your limit before entering the store. You can choose the items yourself, use a fixed-value gift card, pay only for the specific items you agreed to, or decline to shop together.
• ✓If the total or requested items change, you can remove the extra items or end the purchase. You do not owe someone a larger purchase because they are already standing at the register with you.
• ✓Language barriers, children, visible distress, or a compelling story can make people feel more pressure to agree. Those circumstances do not require you to abandon your own limits.

02

Other warning signs

• ✓Be cautious when someone asks you to cash a check, buy gift cards, share banking information, hand over your phone, use your accounts, or send money to another person.
• ✓Avoid giving strangers access to your home, vehicle, passwords, financial accounts, or identification.
• ✓Repeated emergencies, changing stories, threats, intimidation, or attempts to isolate you from other people are reasons to stop and seek help from an established organization instead.
• ✓Fake charities and people impersonating shelters or service organizations can also solicit donations. When possible, verify an organization independently before giving money.

03

Keep control of the purchase

• ✓If you agree to buy a few items, decide the approximate amount before entering the store and say it clearly.
• ✓You may choose to shop alone and bring the items back, use a fixed-value gift card, or keep the cart limited to the items you agreed to buy.
• ✓At checkout, it is acceptable to remove unapproved items or stop the transaction. Public embarrassment is a common reason people spend far more than they intended.
• ✓Do not hand over your payment card, phone, PIN, banking app, or account credentials so someone else can complete the purchase.

04

Repeated or organized requests

• ✓Seeing the same story repeated, seeing several people use nearly identical requests, or being directed to a particular high-cost purchase can be a reason to slow down and verify before spending.
• ✓That pattern does not prove every person involved is fraudulent. The safer response is to keep your assistance specific, limited, and under your control.
• ✓If you want to make a larger contribution, consider giving through a verified local organization that can assess needs and provide follow-up.

05

Verify charities before donating

• ✓Be cautious with urgent donation requests that use a name similar to a known shelter, church, nonprofit, or disaster-response organization.
• ✓Find the organization’s website or contact information independently rather than relying only on a QR code, text message, social-media message, or payment link provided by the solicitor.
• ✓Do not assume a person collecting money in a public place is authorized by the organization named on a sign or shirt.

06

Help in ways that protect both people

• ✓You do not have to decide whether someone is telling the truth before treating them respectfully. You can choose a form of help that limits your risk.
• ✓Consider paying a provider directly, purchasing a specific item, donating to an established local organization, or helping the person contact a resource.
• ✓Set the amount or type of help before you begin and do not let guilt or public pressure force you past that boundary.
• ✓If you feel unsafe, leave. If there is an immediate threat or emergency, call 911.