Charity allegedly bilked seniors of millions
From the AP via Gainesville.com:
A charity and its sister nonprofit organization that claimed to help disadvantaged children received $5.3 million in donations from retirees across the country but sent only about $110,000 to the needy, according to authorities and documents.
Federal tax returns and accounting records showed that less than 2 percent of the funds donated by retirees to the Global Mindlink Foundation and Select International Donors since August 1999 went to charity, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Sunday.
Analysis of more than 170 recorded phone calls from June 2005 showed that telemarketers pressured senior citizens for donations, and were able to get checking account and other information. Some donors seemed confused or hearing-impaired.
Pearl Jones, 88, of Saginaw, Mich., told a Global Mindlink employee in a June 28 recording that she was not sure she had $216 in the bank to donate. Jones said she was taking medicine and had suffered two heart attacks, but the nonprofit group withdrew the money from her bank account.
Lori Griffus said she told the companies earlier to stop calling Jones, her grandmother, who has difficulty hearing. But Jones lost about $3,000 to the two nonprofits, Griffus said.
Some donors were charged $490 for a “membership,” while others paid $49.95, and in return received a newsletter with word puzzles, the Attorney General’s Office alleged in a consumer protection lawsuit settled last week. Some of the puzzles had no solutions.
Company officials used funds for such expenses as a $2,885 stay at a Key West hotel and a $301 meal at a Boca Raton restaurant, examination of more than 700 pages of court documents and sworn statements, along with more than 1,500 pages of financial records showed. The Attorney General’s Office obtained the records after the two companies shut down and left the papers behind in their shared office.
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Ed: Check out the FBI’s Senior Fraud page for more information on the top senior scams.