PND News - Fraudulent Charities Focus of Crackdown

PND News - Fraudulent Charities Focus of Crackdown: "Fraudulent Charities Focus of Crackdown

In the wake of an unprecedented number of bogus appeals to help victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, law enforcement officials have launched aggressive efforts to find and prosecute the perpetrators, the Washington Post reports.

State and federal officials have filed charges in at least four cases involving allegedly fraudulent appeals, and the federal government is examining thousands of suspicious fundraising Web sites and bogus fundraising efforts. 'We're going to act quickly and aggressively to detect any kind of fraud and vigorously pursue it if we find it,' said Alice Fisher, chairwoman of the Justice Department's Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force. The task force, which includes representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Homeland Security, is working with state law enforcement and charity officials to identify fraudulent activity."