5 On Your Side uncovers donation fraud targeting Hurricane Helene relief efforts via Venmo

Scammers are trying to take advantage of people generosity aftermath of Helene’s devastation.

One scam uncovered by 5 On Your Side involves fake relief donations through Venmo.

Meredith Bernard, who shares her life on a Caswell County farm with nearly 130,000 YouTube subscribers, has been using her platform to help.

“The past six years that I’ve been growing this following I’ve always known it had a purpose, but, I haven’t seen that full potential until this, this past two weeks,” Bernard said.

After Helene hit, she used her platform to collect donations for relief efforts.

“I shared my Venmo and PayPal, and the rest is history,” she said.

Bernard says she’s raised more than $50,000 to get relief directly to those in need. But recently, someone alerted her to a scammer impersonating her on Venmo, using her photo and a nearly identical username.

“My heart sank. I was like, no, please no,” Bernard said.

Unfortunately, scams like these are common after disasters, according to Meredith Radford from the Better Business Bureau.

“Sometimes scammers will post a website or a link to a website that sounds really really close to a charity you might be familiar with but the URL is slightly off or the name is slightly off and you donate to it and its not real,” Radford said.

To avoid falling victim to these scams, keep the following in mind when donating:

• Double-check usernames and web addresses down to each letter, number, and character.
• Confirm Venmo donations with the recipient’s phone number.
• Give to groups or people you know and trust.
• Use a credit card for donations, as they offer the most protection.

The account impersonating Bernard was eventually taken down, but not before at least a few people had already donated.

“It’s infuriating. I mean, there’s no other word for it, it’s it’s sad, it’s evil, it’s disgusting,” Bernard said.

Despite the setback, Bernard hopes these scams won’t discourage people from giving in the future.

“The whole face of our, our mountain communities, has changed forever, and these people are going to need, have needs for a long time,” she said.