Tennant touts effort to crack down on charity fraud

by: Carnacki

Fri May 22, 2009 at 12:19:13 PM EDT

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Facing a handful of reporters in front and backed by representatives of a dozen area charities standing behind her, West Virginia's secretary of state on Thursday announced her office's role in a national campaign against fraudulent charities.

Natalie E. Tennant said her office is beefing up its Web site www.wvsos.com to support Operation False Charity 2009, a nationwide crackdown on a practice known as "badge fraud."

Operation False Charity 2009 is aimed at telemarketers who falsely solicit funds on behalf of legitimate charities, especially police, firefighters and veterans groups.

By checking the Web site before they give, West Virginia donors will be able to check the legitimacy of more than 2,500 registered charities in the state, Tennant said at a Thursday morning press conference in front of the Berkeley County Judicial Center.

Thank goodness for that. I'm tired of getting calls from groups that claim to represent police groups and when you ask them to send something to verify who they are, they never do. Often the callers will thank me for a contribution last year and give the same amount as before. Since I do the taxes and we keep all receipts, I know perfectly well I hadn't given to one of those fraudulent groups, but it's just part of their pitch. They also tend to talk extremely fast to get you to say 'Yes' before you think about it. Glad to see we have a secretary of state cracking down on it.

This part was also interesting in the story:

The event was part of a three-day swing through the Eastern Panhandle for Tennant. The swing included stops at the National Conservation Training Center outside Shepherdstown, W.Va.; handing out scholarships to Washington High School students in Charles Town, W.Va.; lunch with Rotarians in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; guest appearances on two local radio talk shows; and today's commencement for Blue Ridge Community and Technical College graduates.

Always good to see our state officials out here and remembering we're West Virginians too in the Eastern Panhandle.