Donors Deceived About Fraudulent US Cancer Charities

Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Chief Operations Officer Bennett Weiner says that donators to three US cancer charities involved in fraud had no way of finding out whether their money was properly used.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Donators to three US cancer charities involved in fraud had no way of finding out whether their money was properly used, Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Chief Operations Officer Bennett Weiner told Sputnik.

“There’s no way for them [donors] to know whether the organization is following through based on the promises made in the appeal,” Weiner said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported The Cancer Fund of America, The Breast Cancer Society and The Children’s Cancer Fund of America had pocketed $187 million raised for cancer.

The charities used the money to buy luxury vacation packages, pay college tuition and employ family members with six-figure salaries, according to the FTC.

Weiner said the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving had also been monitoring the charities and noted they had failed to meet the watchdog’s standards.

He explained the biggest contributor to charity fraud are donors who do not take the time to find out more about the organizations they donate to.

Millions of donors from throughout the United States gave the charities an average of $20. Donations to the charities reached $187 million between 2008 and 2012, according to the FTC.

The FTC stated the action against the three charities is one of the largest brought to date by enforcers against charity fraud.