Scams are changing so quickly that even billionaire MacKenzie Scott has been targeted by scams. Many victims, because of Scott’s fame and her unique way of donating money, have become sheep in the eyes of the scamsters, not only failing to get the assistance they need, but also wasting their already small savings.
Danielle Churchill, who lives in Wollongong, Australia, is one of the many victims. She has five children, one of whom has autism, for which she has spent thousands of dollars on treatment for her autistic child. Although she tried to raise money on the fundraising site GoFundMe, the amount raised was only $500, far from enough to cover her needs.
In late 2020, she received an email from a fake Scottie saying that Scottie’s charity was going to donate half of her fortune and that Ms. Churchill was eligible for a donation. Churchill did check and searched a lot of data, and while some of it came up with keywords like “scam,” Churchill was not immediately alerted because of the unique nature of Scottrade’s approach to donations.
Unlike most charities, which have a foundation, headquarters, dedicated phone lines and other physical units to handle administrative matters, Scottrade usually sends emails directly to those who need them. While such direct donations save on administrative expenses, they are also an easy loophole for scams to exploit.
The fraudsters first asked Ms. Churchill to open a bank account through them and faked a page showing Ms. Churchill that $250,000 had been imported. The scammer then said that because Churchill was located in Australia, she would not be able to withdraw the $250,000 directly and would have to pay membership fees, transfer fees, tax service fees, income tax, and a variety of other fees and charges.
Ms. Churchill finally reached out to Scott through his Facebook page. Scott said that the person who contacted Churchill was a scammer impersonating Scott, but was still willing to donate to help Churchill.
Marti DeLiema, a professor at Minnesota State University’s School of Social Work, said that social philanthropists who are interested in helping the poor have a responsibility to warn the public about scams, in addition to donating money. For example, the famous philanthropist Feeney (Charles Feeney), he founded the Atlantic Philanthropic Fund organization has ceased operations, but still on the website to remind the public: “Do not easily hand over personal property, data, account information.”
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