Fake pacs cheat campaign donations from older americans


A number of recent criminal prosecutions open a window into how bad actors operate as they collect huge sums of money, often by targeting retirees. "If people are going to give some

portion of their hard-earned dollars, they should be able to trust the candidate or political cause is going to benefit, not some shady operator,” says Brendan Fischer, director of federal

reform at the nonpartisan watchdog group the Campaign Legal Center, in Washington. The FEC requires PACs to regularly file reports detailing their spending and the full name, mailing

address, occupation and employer of each contributor who gives more than $200 in a calendar year. Some swindlers collect small contributions to avoid listing donors, a practice observers say

makes it harder for law enforcement to identify victims. 4 Ways to Avoid a Charity Scam Legitimate PACs generally spend less than a quarter of donations on fundraising, and most of the

money goes to candidates and other political efforts, says Andrew Mayersohn, a researcher at the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics in Washington. Scam PACs, by contrast, funnel almost

nothing into political activity. RETIREES TARGETED "The money primarily goes to the people who are running the PAC,” says Washington attorney Brett Kappel, a partner in government

relations and public policy at Akerman LLP. “There are a large number of these out there ... prospecting, looking for retired people as potential victims." In suburban Washington the

Heroes United PAC misled donors nationwide into believing that contributions would help volunteer firefighters, says Eric Friedman, director of the Office of Consumer Protection (OPC) in

Montgomery County, Maryland. The PAC has collected more than $6 million since 2017 through deceptive telemarketing solicitations, paying 90 percent of the donations to third-party vendors,

Friedman says. In October, the office entered into a settlement agreement with the PAC to stop it from soliciting county residents, but the OPC warns that the scam “could be duplicated by

others."