As communities in western North Carolina begin to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, many want to provide support to those who need it most. But with that surge in generosity sometimes comes a rise in scams. WFDD’s April Laissle spoke with Attorney General Josh Stein about how to vet charities and identify fraud in the wake of the storm.
Interview Highlights
On identifying legitimate charities:
"The sad truth is that there are scam artists, criminals who will exploit any tragedy to try to take money. And it's as easy as coming up with a creative name, like Saving Western North Carolina and opening up a website. ... So the best advice is to give to groups you know and are familiar with. If there's a group out there you want to research, you can go to websites like Charity Navigator or GuideStar, and see what their records are. Do they deliver real services, or do they just take people's money?"
On price gouging:
"When folks are desperate, they'll pay anything for something they need to survive. We've gotten over 100 complaints so far on price gouging. They roughly break down — a third for food and groceries, a third for gas and a third for hotels. And we're investigating all of them. We've issued three investigative demands already. We take price gouging extremely seriously. There's a law to protect consumers, and if we see violations, we enforce it."