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Better Business Bureau warns of Ukraine aid scammers

The BBB reports that millions each year fall victim fake donation efforts.

WACO, Texas — The Better Business Bureau reports that many scammers are looking to pray on donors looking to help Ukrainian aid efforts. 

"People feel compelled to support or help by doing something, giving their time or resources," BBB spokesperson Jason Meza said. At the same time, we see another group arise, it's con-artists. 

Meza adds that social media sites and fake websites are created daily to try and fool giving donors. He says that one of the most popular ways to scam people out of their money is through crowdfunding sites. 

"We see this a lot where people want to give and they see a story of a victim on a crowdfunding site and they think its probably legit," Meza said. "Unfortunately, many of those crowd funding sites can take days, even a week or two to verify its a real person. It may be a duplicated image, might be a cloned person trying to get money and direct it to personal relief." 

When it comes to making sure a site is legit, he warns that all people should triple-check where the money is going and to do your research. 

"Signs we see all the time are charities that don't disclose all their information, charities that claim that 100 percent of proceeds will go towards relief directly without overhead charities and charities that try to get on the spot and not do anymore research, those are the one we tell people to watch for red flags," said Meza. 

The BBB website is the first place to go if you'd like to report a charity or site that you don't think is legit. They also have a scammer tool you can use. 

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