Following the devastating tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma, charities are relying heavily on people's generosity to fund their relief efforts. Mobile payment technology or text message based donations coming from the public have made up a huge part of the funds donated.
Upon hearing of the devastation, calls to action were quickly sounded from relief organizations and celebrities alike encouraging text message-based donations to provide aid. When the phone user texts a unique "short code" to the charities custom five-digit telephone number, the charge for the donation is simply added to the customer's bill or deducted from their prepaid balance.
Requests to Text STORM to 80888 to donate $10 to the recovery and relief efforts referencing The Salvation Army's text-to-donate campaign, hit the twittersphere with an almighty roar and the same can be said for Text “REDCROSS” to 90999. In events like Oklahoma and super storm Sandy we get to see that people are inherently good and willing to help.
Threat to charities lifeline
This payment method is a huge benefit to nonprofits, however the underlying technology has come under threat by fraudsters. Regulators are concerned about an activity called “mobile cramming” a practice that uses the technology to add fraudulent charges to consumers' phone bill. This does not affect donation to relief efforts so DON’T WORRY.
This underhanded activity often occurs when people use their numbers to sign up for a service such as horoscopes, ringtones or trivia sent by text without their permission or knowledge, after which they get a stream of messages which bill the recipient. So read the fine print when giving your number to these services.
Hopefully regulators can remedy the problem with double opt-in requirement or obligatory unsubscription notifications. If not the bad apples could upset the cart. Mobile Giving Foundation CEO Jim Manis said "I don't want the philanthropic piece to be negatively tainted and if the premium space goes away, guess what? We go away, too. So there is a threat, if you will, to us,"
Marc Healy - [D4H] Crew