Scam artists have been working overtime without hesitation to take advantage of the circumstances surrounding last week’s fatal school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Jeff Rossen and Avni Patel of NBC News reported this week on one of the worst examples, the case of Noah Pozner.
“Within an hour of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, a woman posing as Noah’s aunt took to Facebook: “All we know is 18 kids have been killed…still no word on my nephew.”
Then, days later, she went after money. “We’ve set up a funeral fund for my brother….” she posted. “Anyone willing to make a donation can make one….”
Through her personal PayPal account, that is. She even gave out her bank account information and routing number.”
Rossen confirmed with Noah’s uncle, Alexis Haller, that this individual was in no way related to Noah.
ROSSEN: “Is this person related to you?”
HALLER: “No.”
ROSSEN: “Do you know who this person is?”
ROSSEN: “No.”
ROSSEN: “Have you seen a single dime from any money raised?”
ROSSEN: “No, absolutely not.”
ROSSEN: “What do you make of that?”
ROSSEN: “It’s trying to turn a profit on a horrible tragedy, on the death of kids, 6-year-old kids, 7-year-old kids. And to me, that’s just a horrible thing to be doing.”
Rossen managed to track down the bogus Facebook posts to the account of Nouel Alba in the Bronz and conducted an interviews.
ROSSEN:“Did you send this message over Facebook?”
ALBA: “No, I never sent any message on Facebook.”
ROSSEN:“Then why is your account number on it, your bank routing number, your email, and your PayPal information?”
ALBA:“Because I sell things online.”
ROSSEN:“Because you sell things online? But then why were you posing to be a member of the Pozner family? They say they’ve never met you before.”
ALBA:“I never did that.”
Rossen went on to speak to George Jepsen, the Connecticut Attorney General, asking him “What red flags” people should look out for when trying to donate to Newtown families.
Jepsen replied: “They should avoid telephone solicitations, email solicitations, because you can’t really trace where it comes from.”
He went on to warn of “Facebook solicitations” and advised that individuals wanting to make donations “should check out the charity.”
Bottom line, donating to victims and their families is a great gesture, but individuals must always be alert to scams.
Noah’s family has set up their own official website and all donations will go to Noah’s surviving sisters.
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