Slashdot Mirror
FBI Warns: Many Tsunami Relief Pleas Are Fake
lgrinberg writes "Even in the face of terrible disasters such as the Tsunami that hit South East Asia and Africa in late December, many are finding ways to take advantage of it and make money off of it. An example is fake websites that claim to be non-profit charitable organizations that help out the victims when they really take all the money for themselves. Other instances are emails or websites written by people who claim to be survivors of the disaster and are asking for help. The FBI warns that many of these are fake and recommends people to help via known non-profit organizations."
UNICEF. Check this guy who's on the ground and watching the UN's presense first hand: http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
Hint: The only way to get away from the UN there is to go where there's actually people in need. Hang out in 5 star hotels and you'll be swamped by 'em.
I'm ashasmed to know that my country is where their head quarters sit.
sure, /some/ charities are needlessly wasteful, but the fact of the matter is that to provide the maximum help to the maximum people in the shortest amount of time, you need good people who demand at least close to a market salary. you want logistics experts doing logistics, not well meaning but inexperienced volunteers. running an effective relif agency is at least as hard as running a corporation.
let me clue you in: the majority of people who give to charities are well meaning but clueless. the classic (real life) example that i like to use is a group of english business owners decided to help estonia in the days after their independence by building them a school. now, what do a bunch of english business owners do? they spent their money on cement and other building materials and a fleet of lorries (trucks) to carry then from from the UK to estonia. Look! how photogenic! building materials for building societies! Bullshite. as if estonia needs cement bought at english prices to be shipped over or even unskilled builders in the form of english volunteers to build the thing. fuck no. for the money spent on all that photogenic bullshit and feel-good volunteerism (plane tickets to get the volunteers there, etc), an expert could have been hired at a competitive salary that would have hired local building crews and arranged the necessary logistics. but, morons like you would just scream and yell "fat consultants getting paid!"
the truth is that the relief and development world IS filled with a large number of people who do get paid good salaries... usually a bit below a business salary, but quite good nonetheless. buy, by in large, they damn well earn their money despite know nothing reporters writing exposes about how the money is going to "consultants."
here's another clue folks: by in large, sending canned food to africa is a waste of time and money compared to sending skilled consultants who can teach africa to feed itself. if there is a warzone where a consultant could not go, don't worry, your can won't make it there either.
Maybe we just need to kill all the bad people.
Pretty simple, actually.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Heh, they won't need that stuff anymore anyway... what's the problem, would you rather see them steal the things from the living?
You can't handle the truth.