Where Most Needed

This week saw  another story in the ongoing alleged telemarketing crime wave of Global Mindlink Foundation & Select International Donors.  These charity scams allegedly lure seniors into paying repeatedly for phony memberships and raffles, supposedly for charity, and allegedly also make unauthorized withdrawals from the victims' checking accounts.

Unfortunately, we have to still say "allegedly" and it may not be the end of the story, because the result in this case was a civil settlement with the Attorney General with no admission of wrongdoing on the part of the charities or their principals, restitution of $350,000 and an agreement to cease operating.  The case has been referred for criminal prosecution. 

The investigation in Florida showed a pattern which seems typical of these scams.  It was founded in 1995 by Stephen Colangelo, a house painter from New York, who turned it over to his daughter after he went to prison for shooting a man in the arm outside of a bar.  The decade long run of this charity scam seems typical. 

Though the group apparently collected millions over the years, the penalties so far have been small.  The same groups scored similar slap-on-the-wrist restitution-only civil penaties in Oregon ($74,892) and North Dakota ($12,000).  The organization was also spotted in news stories in West Virginia, but apparently without follow-up.   And it appears that the organization continued operating until June of 2005, nearly a year after the Oregon settlement. 

As Oregon's Attorney General Hardy Meyers put it (back in August, 2004), "Seniors and their caregivers must be vigilant in guarding against such scams in the future."  That's certainly the case, since law enforcement seems incapable of bringing them to justice and putting them out of business for good.