How to Help Flood Victims in Queensland Safely

You may be wondering how you can help with the floods that have devastated Queensland in recent weeks. Donating money is the best way to help, but be careful when someone you don’t know asks for money donations.

Over the last two weeks Queensland has seen constant heavy rain and it’s resulted in the worst flooding most of us have ever seen. I’m not immune to the floods, the weather on the “Sunshine Coast” just north of Brisbane has been something I’ve never seen before. While my place is high and dry, I’ve been spending time at a family members place packing sand bags and moving stuff off the floors.

The disaster in Brisbane and central Queensland further north will take years to recover, so it’s every hand on deck to help out where you can. If you can donate a tradies service like electrician, plumber or earth mover, you can list up at the Volunteering Qld “Get Involved” page: http://www.emergencyvolunteering.com.au/

If you can’t get to the affected areas and volunteer a tradies service, the next best thing is to donate money. But be careful where you donate the money because there is news around of many scams starting up on the Internet, phones and through door knocking.

The safest place to donate money is via the Queensland governments web site with their online donation form at http://telethon.smartservice.qld.gov.au/
There are plenty of other safe ways to donate money listed at the web site as well: http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

If you decide to donate money to another organisation be sure the organisation is reputable.

“While many legitimate charities exist, scams have been known to take advantage of the public’s generosity and kindness in the aftermath of disastrous events.” – Scamwatch

The article at the Governments Scamwatch web site Donate wisely – Central Queensland flood crisis details what to look out for. Please check it out.

Here’s a list of my own pointers for detecting scams over the phone (most important first)

• Scams insist on using credit cards. When they ask for the credit card details, try asking them to send you an invoice or bill that you will pay via deposit or money order. If they insist on you using a credit card don’t donate to them.
• Legitimate organisations don’t ask for any more details than what is necessary, they don’t need your date of birth, what bank company you use, or your drivers license number.
• Scammers can be a very aggressive sales person, legitimate organisations will respect your decision to say no.

Scammers knocking on your door can be even easier to see.

• Ask if they give receipts. Legitimate organisation are required to give receipts that are over a certain amount. Take a look at the receipt book, does it look like something you could get from a newsagent or does it have an official organisation header on it?
• Again.. Scammers can be a very aggressive sales person, legitimate organisations will respect your decision to say no.
• Legitimate organisations often travel in two.
• If you say no and the person then asks a question like “You’re not interested in helping poor flood victims?”. While it may be a legitimate organisation, the technique to get your donation I think is simply an underhanded one to try push you into feeling guilty about saying no. Just close the door and go donate online at the Governments web site if you still feel bad about it.

Web site scams can often be difficult to spot, but not impossible.

• Check for ABN numbers, and look them up if your not sure: ABN Lookup Service – www.abr.business.gov.au. An official charity will be “Income Tax Exempt”, detailed on the ABN lookup page.
• Check for https in the address bar of your browser before you start typing in financial details.
• Take a look at our ten steps to safe online shopping for a detailed list of things to check for to spot a donation scammer online.

Lastly, and more relative to online shopping in Australia, don’t forget to look out for your favorite online stores when they have their “Flood Appeal” sales. Buy products from online stores donating profits to the appeal. It’s a great way to help yourself with some extra things around the house and to also help someone hurt by the floods at the same time :)

Hopefully this publication about how to donate safely to the Queensland flood appeal will set you in the right direction. I’m sure for those who have lost everything in this disaster, any amount of help is appreciated. Please donate.