Don’t Let Your Generosity Be Taken Advantage Of

By Elliott Greenblott
AARP
‘Thank you for your recent donation. Your generous gift will make a difference in the recovery of communities devastated by recent flooding.” Thousands of Vermonters and donors from other states responded to the calls for assistance in funding the recovery of communities and individuals recovering from recent storms. Their generosity and kindness has made the difference for many victims but, sadly, they may have made themselves vulnerable to abuse of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

When donating, or for that matter, whenever a financial transaction occurs such as a credit card purchase on a website, the handling of your PII is governed by a privacy policy to which you have agreed. So now you ask, what policy and when did I agree to it? The answer is both simple and complex. The simple part comes in a general statement that basically states that when you click on the link to register you are agreeing to the conditions stated in the documentation. The complex part is that generally those conditions, in the best situations, are provided through a separate link that must be accessed in order to see the policy. Needless to say, most device users do not take the time to visit the policy; they simply acknowledge that they agree to the policy by continuing to the donation page.

I recently contacted staff members for four different charities asking if they have read and understand the details of their, or their fund-raisers privacy policy. All responded that they had not.

Typical privacy policies may span as many as a couple dozen pages. They are often written using legal, confusing, and vague language that may tell you what information is collected, whether it is shared, sold or provided to others, whether or not you can restrict the sharing, and the length of time the data is held by the collector. In general, the privacy policies allow organizations to sell or share information to affiliates and non-affiliates and do not provide you, the donor or customer, with the ability to restrict the activity. PII includes many points of data: name, address, email address, telephone number, age, credit card number, amount of donation, and possibly, depending of the information requested by the website, much more. Clearly, not every data point is collected but what is identified can create unwanted situations.

At a minimum, data may be shared or sold to other non-profits or charities. The result is increased targeting for donations via phone calls, text messages, and emails. Since these contacts are by non-profits or charities, restrictions against robocalls and registration for DO NOT CALL do not apply.

Worse, the personal data is given or sold to other organizations that use it for targeted, aggressive marketing. Still worse, the donor becomes a victim of identity theft from insecure databases or unscrupulous operations.

As with other situations, the potential victim needs to apply some general practices. Before taking action by donating or making a purchase, determine the potential risks and whether or not you are willing to accept them. Take time to review posted documents and privacy policies before agreeing to participate, register, or act. Find an alternative approach to use if you consider the risk to be greater that you are willing to accept. Don’t be hesitant to seek advice and assistance from reputable sources such as the Better Business Bureau, office of the Attorney General, AARP, or trusted advisors.

Helping those in need is a duty of citizenship. Protecting yourself from loss, harassment, or injury is inherent in that duty. Questions/Comments? Email [email protected].

— Elliott Greenblott is a retired educator and coordinator of the AARP Vermont Fraud Watch Network. He hosts a CATV program, Mr. Scammer, distributed by GNAT-TV in Sunderland, Vt. – www.gnat-tv.org.