In the wake of the earthquakes that leveled parts of Haiti earlier this week, millions of people have taken to their cell phones to help by texting donations to several organizations. Twitter and Facebook have seen a frenzy of tweets and status updates instructing people to send texts to certain numbers, and then select “Yes” when prompted. While most of these requests and text numbers are valid, some are not. In addition, not all wireless carriers are waiving fees for those who don’t have text messaging including in their wireless plans. There are a couple of things you need to know before you pull out your cell phone.
All those tweets and status updates on social networking sites ask people to text a certain number in order to donate $10 to Haiti earthquake relief. Sounds easy enough, and $10 is affordable for most people. It takes less than a minute to complete this transaction, and when you see a tweet or status update from someone you know, it lends a certain amount of credibility to the information.
You might not think twice about whether the plea is valid or not because it came from a friend or family member. But you’re making a big assumption, which is that the person who is providing the information has already checked the source to be sure it’s coming from a valid charity or organization that can provide relief, and not from a scammer.
We want to trust our friends and family, but even the smartest people are sometimes taken in by what appears to be a valid request for information or money. And $10 isn’t a lot of money to most people. If it were a scammer, they’d be asking for a lot more money, right? Not necessarily. A scammer can ask for just a $10 “donation,” and if enough people comply, they can very quickly make thousands of dollars.
Before you start punching keys on your cell phone, do a simple Web search to ensure you’re donating to a legitimate organization, and that the money you donate gets where it’s supposed to go. If a certain text number is being linked to a particular organization like the Red Cross, go to that organization’s Web site to confirm it. If you should find that the text number you received is fraudulent, take another moment to at least inform the person who provided it, if not disperse it via Facebook or Twitter yourself.
Also, it may interest you to know that as of this writing, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are not charging for these charity texts—but Sprint is. AT&T was, but earlier today reversed their position. They’ve gone so far as to say they will also remove text charges on accounts for donations made yesterday, essentially making all text donations made by AT&T customers free.
Sprint, on the other hand, has said they customers without text plans will be charged for the charity texts. A spokeswoman told MSNBC, “If a customer does not use any of [the available texting] options, standard text messaging charges will apply, but they can switch to [a texting] plan at anytime without extending their contract.”
This is particularly disappointing. Sprint offers unlimited text messaging plans, or 300 text messages per month for $5. Sure, that’s pretty reasonable. But if someone doesn’t already have the plan, it’s because they didn’t want it for some reason. Sprint is saying its customers have to sign up for a texting plan they didn’t want in the first place in order to make one $10 donation to charity. And that’s not very charitable at all.
Update: MSNBC is now reporting that Sprint has joined the other three carriers, and is no longer charging for text messages sending donations to Haiti.
MSNBC has compiled a list of valid charity organizations accepting donations and assistance in Haiti. Please help if you can.
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