DETROIT – It's a sad reminder every time there's a tragedy in the United States, but scammers are trying to fool people into making a donation.
It seems as if it should be easy, but when you go looking for sites to donate to the victims, they can look very similar. We had some trouble deciphering which one was the right site to donate for Las Vegas victims, and it tripped up one Metro Detroit woman who fell for the trap.
Click here to visit the real GoFundMe page for Las Vegas shooting victims.
Donations for victims of the Las Vegas shooting are pouring in as millions of dollars come from people all over the country who have watched the horror and desperately want to help.
Emily McCament, of South Lyon, is one of the many people who were moved to donate, especially after seeing that two people from her hometown of Manhattan Beach, California, had been killed.
"Watching it all day, and you know they need help and you can't donate blood from here," McCament said. "So I did the next best thing."
But her $50 donation didn't go to the victims.
"I was too excited and hit the buttons too fast," McCament said.
Her money went to a scammer who set up a fake account.
"It had Las Vegas on there until it got to the end and I saw there was only $110," McCament said. "I was devastated."
The Better Business Bureau said people need to use caution when donating on crowdfunding sites such as GoFundMe because they do very little to vet people who set up accounts, even though they police them afterward.
Another important rule is to check out the charity and make sure it's reputable. Ask yourself: How will donations be used? If a site doesn't specify, that's a red flag.
"I can't believe someone would take advantage of a tragedy like that," McCament said. "It's disgusting."
McCament heard back from GoFundMe and her $50 will be refunded. She said she still plans to make the donation.
You can watch Jason Colthorp's full story in the video posted above.