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FTC cracking down on fraudulent Veterans charities


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It’s been a long road for Caron LeNoir, a disabled veteran who was homeless for about five years.

“The homeless and disabled veteran population are the most vulnerable of us all. We may not have the physical ability or the mental capacity to pick ourselves up on our own,” she said in an interview Friday.

LeNoir said she was able to turn to charitable organizations for housing and food and other basic needs, after serving 14 years in both the Navy and the Army.

“There are a lot of us that still need help and we fought for the freedoms that we all enjoy,” she said.

It turns out some of that help is being taken by scammers.

And this week, the Federal Trade Commission announced a major crackdown on charities praying on people’s generosity - groups with names like “Help the Vets,” “The National Vietnam Veterans Foundation” and “Veterans of America.”

“These are folks who purport to be charities to help Vets or service members or their families and in fact they were collecting consumers’ money and using it, basically paying themselves,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission.

The good news is there are some things you can do, like finding out the full name of the charity and what percentage of money actually goes to veterans, checking charity rating websites like guidestar.org and give-dot org and never using wire transfers or prepaid cards to donate.

“It’s shameful. It’s shameful that the most vulnerable of our citizens are taken advantage of in this way,” LeNoir said, adding that she’s grateful the bad guys are being stopped.

“People who come to do harm do tremendous harm not just to veterans but to their families and to the community at large.”

It's community she says she now advocates for...protecting fellow Americans once again.


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