Mount Laurel public schools will start the next academic year with a new leader at the helm.
Neil Burti will take over as superintendent of schools starting Aug. 1, succeeding George Rafferty, who is retiring after leading the district for a decade.
After an extensive search, “Dr. Burti distinguished himself as the candidate whose experience, leadership style, and vision best aligned with the needs of the Mount Laurel School District,” Danielle Stuffo, president of the Mount Laurel Board of Education, said in an email.
Burti has more than 25 years of experience as an educator and administrator and is a longtime employee of the Cherry Hill Public Schools. While there, he served at all levels of leadership and was most recently the director of secondary education for the district.
Earlier this year, Burti also stepped in to handle the principal responsibilities during the second half of the school year at Cherry Hill High School East following a period of administrative upheaval in the school district.
The shake-up came after a lawsuit filed last September alleged that East’s former principal, alongside the Cherry Hill Board of Education and two other top administrators, subjected a former assistant principal to discrimination and retaliation.
“We are confident [Burti] will build upon the district’s many strengths, work collaboratively with our staff and community, and continue our focus on providing an exceptional educational experience for every student,” Stuffo said.
Stuffo said the district’s goals will largely remain the same under new leadership.
Like other districts, Stuffo said, Mount Laurel will work to continuously improve student experience and outcomes while adapting to evolving educational needs — and doing so within an increasingly limited budget.
“Fortunately, Mount Laurel is well positioned, with excellent staff and strong systems already in place. As Dr. Burti becomes familiar with the district, he will have the opportunity to evaluate our organizational structure and administrative leadership and, if appropriate, make recommendations to the Board for consideration,” she said in the email.
Burti was named the 2024 New Jersey Secondary School Principal of the Year during his time leading Cherry Hill’s John A. Carusi Middle School.
Burti holds a bachelor’s degree in movement studies and exercise science from East Stroudsburg University, a master’s degree in educational leadership from Temple University, and a doctorate in innovation and leadership from Wilmington University.
Mini golf is an underrated nostalgic summer staple. The rainbow array of golf balls, the sun-bleached artificial turf, the tilting windmills, and fiberglass volcanoes will transport you right back to childhood, melting ice cream cones and all.
It’s easy to find putt-putt courses dotted up and down the boardwalks of the Jersey Shore, but South Jersey has its fair share of miniature fareways, too. Many offer more than just mini golf, with homemade ice cream, arcade games, amusement park rides, and driving ranges for adults. Two courses are indoors, for big fun even when the sun isn’t shining.
Big Swing boasts not one but two mini golf courses. (For the second, “Go left at the volcano,” the attendant tells me.) Both are light on props and heavy on banks, curves, hills, elevation gains, and drops, making for some genuinely tricky shots.
Best hole: Number eight on the waterfall course starts at the top of a hill, with three options to get to the bottom, including two mystery chutes — one that could land a hole in one, and another that spits out on a separate landing.
Other amenities: Golf simulator, golf lessons, driving range
Price: $7 per adult for both courses, $6 for children 12 and under
Don’t let a rainy day (or a brutally hot one) stop you from hitting the links. Monster Mini Golf offers 18 holes of spooky-themed, indoor, glow-in-the-dark golf, with locations in Cherry Hill and Turnersville. Black light illuminates the dark interior, which is decked out with weird Jersey scenes rendered in glowing paint, and monstrous animatronics that come to life as you move around the course.
Best hole: Tie between hole number eight, which is presided over by an enormous, glowing, talking skull and number nine, where players can spin a wheel to add an random, extra challenge to their turn, like playing with one arm behind their back or with their eyes closed.
Other amenities: Arcade, mini-bowling alley, laser maze, laser tag (at Turnersville location only)
Players play rounds at Pleasant Valley Miniature Golf on Route 73 in Voorhees, N.J. on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
April 1 to Halloween
Opened in 1972 and now run by the son of the original owner, Pleasant Valley is a throwback mini golf course with all the whacky obstacles you could dream of. The fiberglass Liberty Bell and giant sombrero, built by the owner, have been there since the 1970s. Guest-favorite hole number 12 features three gophers driving classic cars in circles. Conveniently located on the way to Atlantic City, it’s got a classic charm you won’t find at every course.
Best hole: “The sombrero,” owner Brian Whelan says. “It’s very difficult, very easy to have the ball fly out of the sombrero. Big risk, big reward there.”
Other amenities: Ice cream and water ice
Price: Before 6 p.m., $10 for adults, $9 for kids 10 and under and seniors; after 6 p.m., $12.50 for adults, $10 for kids and seniors
Previously known as The Golf Farm, Voorhees Golf Land reopened last year under new ownership after a year-long closure. In addition to 18 holes of mini golf, Golf Land sports the region’s only pitch-and-putt course. That’s 18 holes of golf that are just 20 to 50 yards long, “not quite the size of a par three,” owner Diana Hennefer says, so it’s a great option for people who don’t have the time or mobility to play a full round of golf, or who just want to practice their short game.
Best hole: Number 18 has a wishing well in the middle. “It’s probably the trickiest one,” Hennefer says. “It’s also the prettiest, most picturesque one.”
Other amenities: Pitch-and-putt course
Price: Mini golf: $8 for adults, $6 for kids; pitch and putt: $15 for adults, $10 for kids
A water feature at Serene Custard and Miniature Golf in Vineland, N.J.
Come for the challenging, hilly course, and stay for the vintage custard stand serving homemade ice cream. Built in 1959, Serene Custard still boasts its original mid-century signage and is celebrating its 67th season this year. The 18-hole mini golf course is a newer addition, featuring tough terrains and lush landscaping. “You sort of don’t even feel like you’re in South Jersey when you’re on the course,” owner Ari Dendrinos says.
Best hole: Number nine takes place entirely within a huge man-made cave.
Other amenities: Custard stand serving ice cream, water ice, and some savory snacks
The Funplex at Mt. Laurel has way more than just mini golf. There’s a waterpark, indoor and outdoor rides, a bowling alley, and more. But don’t sleep on the two mini golf courses, Adventure Cave and Lost Lagoon, both of which offer 18 holes of obstacles, including a few multi-level designs.
Best hole: At number 19, if you get a hole-in-one, your next game is free.
Other amenities: Waterpark, indoor and outdoor rides, bowling, arcade games
Price: $42 on weekdays and $49 on weekends for access to all attractions; $46 and $54 when purchasing at the gate
The Jersey Devil wants to ensure you never have to miss a mini golf fix. Despite their posted hours, this course operates on the honor system, making their putters and golf balls available every day, all year round, so you can play even when no one is working. Just drop $5 in the box at the first hole to enjoy putting on these long greens, which provide a challenge to kids and adults alike.
Best hole: Hole number 12 features a sharp bend and splits in two before converging.
Other amenities: Driving range, picnic area with cornhole, and fire pits
Price: $8 for adults, $7 for 6 to 16-year-olds, free for 5 and under
The conversation reared its head again this week after a New Jersey Girl Scout troop set up shop outside of a Mount Laurel recreational marijuana dispensary to sell Thin Mints and Caramel deLites. Owners of Daylite Cannabis dispensary had been trying for years to make this possible, and were excited to share the news of a “pilot program” at their store, owner Steve Cassidy said in an article for NJ.com.
“Being community-minded is a core part of our mission at Daylite. We’re a locally and family-owned business, so supporting local organizations and helping them raise funds in the community is very important to us,” Cassidy said, who runs the dispensary alongside his wife and parents.
What they didn’t expect was for it to become a national and global headline, upsetting higher-ups at the Girl Scouts of America. A representative for the Girl Scouts of Central and South Jersey said that there was no formalagreement to allow Girl Scouts to sell cookies in front of a dispensary and don’t approve of the practice.
“Our guidance for Girl Scout cookie booths is that girls should not set up booths in front of any businesses that they themselves could not legally patronize,” the representative said. “It’s just unfortunate that [the owner] was quoted as saying this is a ‘trial’ because that is factually incorrect.”
The Girl Scout troop, which Cassidy did not identify, sold cookies outside the dispensary on NJ Route 73 in February to much enthusiasm from customers, Cassidy said. Some customers even bypassed the marijuana to go to the cookies first, he told NJ.com.
Girl Scouts of Central and South Jersey said they do not know how the miscommunication occurred. Cassidy said he was told by a member of a local Girl Scout organization that a “small pilot program” had been approved.
“Our intention was simply to support a local troop and be part of our community. We’ve seen an overwhelmingly positive response from people who enjoyed supporting the girls, and we hope that enthusiasm helps encourage similar community partnerships in the future.”
Girl Scout cookie season runs from January to April, providing young girls the chance to exercise the entrepreneurial spirit and engage with their community. Girl Scouts started selling cookies in 1917, but Girl Scouts selling cookies in front of weed dispensaries has been making headlines for more than a decade.
At the time, Lei’s mom told press that she encourages her daughters to “set up shop at various points around San Francisco so they can learn about different environments while earning some cash” and to use it as an opportunity, “to start a conversation about drugs and how some people use marijuana as medicine while others just get high.”
But the Rochester, N.Y.-based supermarket chain won’t say whether it’s collecting biometricdata on shoppers at eight Philly-area stores. There are Wegmans stores in Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel in New Jersey and in Glen Mills, Malvern, King of Prussia, Collegeville, Warrington, and North Wales in Pennsylvania.
Patrons at some New York City Wegmans locations learned earlier this month that the supermarket chain had begun to collect, retain, store, and share data on their faces, eyes, and voices. The information, Wegmans said, was being used for “safety purposes.”
“This is information that can be used to identify or help identify you,” a sign posted at Wegmans in New York City said, according to reporting from the online news site Gothamist. “We use facial recognition technology to protect the safety and security of our patrons and employees, and do not lease, trade or otherwise profit from the transfer of biometric identifier information.”
Wegmans does not “get into the specific measures used at each store” for “safety and security purposes,” Wegmans spokesperson Marcie Rivera said in an email.
Rivera said Wegmans has deployed cameras equipped with facial recognition technology in “a small fraction of our stores that exhibit an elevated risk.” Wegmans is using the technology in a “handful of states.” It posted mandated signage in New York City to comply with local regulations, Rivera said.
Wegmans has previously said that the surveillance software is used to help identify individuals who “pose a risk to our people, customers, or operation.”
Biometric surveillance is becoming increasingly common but is not yet widespread, said Gus Hurwitz, senior fellow and academic director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition at Penn’s Carey Law School.
Companies that use biometric surveillance do so for a number of reasons, but seldom tell consumers what their data is being collected for. Data collection can help companies understand what consumers are purchasing and how they’re moving through stores, Hurwitz said. Biometric data collection can also be used for dynamic pricing, when retailers change prices in real-time depending on a number of factors, including time of day, demand, weather, and consumer behavior.
Hurwitz said it’s important to distinguish between real-time and non-real-time biometric screening. Non-real-time screening has been happening for decades in the form of security cameras and other data collection tools, often used for market research purposes.
Real-time screening, however, is a newer frontier with a far murkier regulatory landscape.
Businesses in New York City that collect biometric data are required to post signage notifying customers, per a 2021 city law, however the agency in charge of implementing the law has no enforcement mechanism for noncompliant businesses, a city official told Gothamist.
A bipartisan bill regulating biometric data collection is currently moving through the Pennsylvania legislature. A recently introduced bill in the New Jersey Legislature would require any entity collecting biometric information to post a “clear and conspicuous notice” at every entryway to their business, like in New York City.
Hurwitz said we’re “still very much in the development era of these sorts of technologies,” and that he expects more and more government entities to hone in on regulating them in the near future.
Broadway playwright, composer, and actor Shaina Taub knows the power of theater to make a political statement. As an enthusiastic teen in Vermont, Taub staged a teach-in to protest the Iraq War at her high school — a bold move inspired by the anti-war musical Hair.
About a decade later, when she was approached to write a musical about the suffrage movement, Taub recognized another meaningful opportunity to blend activism with theater.
The one challenge: She was pretty unfamiliar with the American women who fought for the right to vote.
“I really didn’t know anything,” Taub said.
She was stunned, but her feelings turned into frustration as she concluded that her American public school education had been seriously lacking. “I was blown back by the scope of this history,” she said.
That fueled her to create Suffs, the hit musical about the suffrage movement centered on South Jersey Quaker activist Alice Paul, a radical and charismatic organizer played fittingly by Taub herself in the Off-Broadway and Broadway runs.
Alice Paul, seated second from left, sews the 36th star on a banner, celebrating the ratification of the women’s suffrage amendment in August 1920. The 36th star represented Tennessee, whose ratification completed the number of states needed to put the amendment in the Constitution. (AP Photo, File)
After premiering in 2022 at New York’s Public Theater for a sold-out run — following the trajectory of another history musical box-office success, Hamilton — Suffs opened on Broadway in 2024. It went on to earn six Tony Award nominations.
Taub took home two, for best book and best score, making history as the first woman to win in both categories independently on a night where Hillary Clinton, a Suffs coproducer, introduced Taub and the cast.
Now on its first North American tour, Suffs has landed at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music this week (running through Jan. 18) to help kick off a year of events commemorating the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. The musical graces the same stage where suffragist Susan B. Anthony once spoke some 150 years ago advocating for the right to vote.
Though mostly set in the District of Columbia, Suffs has some local shout-outs, too: The show mentions Swarthmore College, where Paul studied before pursuing her master’s at the University of Pennsylvania, and Bryn Mawr College, where President Woodrow Wilson (Suffs’ main antagonist) once taught history and politics.
“Suffs” on Broadway.
On opening night at the Academy of Music, director Leigh Silverman nodded to Philadelphia’s history in the suffrage movement, mentioning the protests Paul organized at Independence Hall, only a mile away, and across the city.
“The suffs you met tonight, and the many, many others … were here in Philadelphia, and they remind us of our collective strength and what is possible when we stand up and fight, despite how far it might seem like we have to go, or for how long we have to keep marching,” she said.
“This is the first year of Suffs being performed under this president, and [it feels like] a radical act to get together in the theater and tell these stories,” Taub said.
She added that it’s acutely meaningful to see the show in Philadelphia as the city reflects on the nation’s history for America250 this year.
Though the actor/playwright grew up in Vermont, she saw shows in Philadelphia as a kid when she visited family in South Jersey; her mother, Susan Taub, was raised in Cherry Hill, just a few miles down the road from Paul’s childhood home in Mount Laurel.
The Philadelphia region’s first snowfall of the season ended up having quite a March-like quality.
Totals generally ranged from 4 to 8 inches, but the snow literally was so heavy that the average shoveler may have had a hard time discerning the difference.
“When I was shoveling my car out, it felt rough,” said Michael Silva, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly. Silva lives in Mount Laurel, where an unofficial 7 inches was reported.
The snow was so weighty because it had a high liquid content, the result of temperatures close to the freezing mark, as so often happens in March. The borderline temperatures also would help explain the range in accumulations, he said.
The snow glommed onto the trees, weighing down branches. In fact it took down a branch outside the Mount Holly office that damaged a federal car (sorry, taxpayers).
The highest amounts, just over 8 inches, were recorded in Chester and Bucks Counties.
Officially, at Philadelphia International Airport, where temperatures didn’t get below freezing until midmorning Sunday, 4.2 inches was measured.
By contrast, Boston has measured only 3.1 inches so far.
Here are the snowfall totals posted by the weather service as of 10 a.m. Monday.
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“You don’t have to like the fact that merit pay was in there,” Hibbs said of his contract at the board’s most recent meeting. But, he said, he is legally entitled to the payment on top of his $215,000 annual base salary because he met the goals listed in his contract.
And he is not the only South Jersey superintendent who has negotiated merit pay or other bonuses as part of a contract. The measure is a little-known way for New Jersey superintendents to earn higher salaries.
About 54 of the state’s 600 public school chiefs, or about 9%, had perks negotiated in their contracts in the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the New Jersey Department of Education.
Here’s what to know about the practice of giving merit pay to New Jersey superintendents:
How many superintendents get merit pay and how much is it?
In South Jersey, at least eight of nearly 100superintendents had merit or bonus pay provisions in their contracts in the 2023-24 school year, the most recent available state data obtained under the Open Public Records Act. The information may be incomplete because it is compiled from self-reporting by districts, and some superintendents have left their jobs since the data were compiled.
Among the districts offering merit pay are: Barrington, Black Horse Pike Regional, Clayton, Salem County Vocational, Washington Township in Gloucester County, Woodlynne, and West Deptford. Merchantville had it also, but that superintendent has since left the position.
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How much money do superintendents make in bonus pay?
An Inquirer analysis of state data found that bonus compensation packages ranged from $2,000 to $56,989 for the 2023-24 school year.
They included additional pay granted for meeting performance goals or obtaining a doctorate, orlongevity bonuses for years of service.
The districts with the most lucrative merit packages were in North Jersey: $56,989 in Bergen County Vocational; $43,272 in Hudson, and $36,489 in Union.
Clayton Superintendent Nikolaos Koutsogiannis, in his ninth year as schools chief, received $4,350 in longevity pay. He joined the district in 2008 as a principal and is one of the longest-serving superintendents in Gloucester County.
“I enjoy my job here,” Koutsogiannis said. “They wanted to keep me here. I was more than willing to stay.”
The Barrington, Black Horse Pike Regional, Salem County Vocational, and West Deptford superintendents did not respond to numerous email messages.
Some South Jersey districtswhere superintendents are among the highest-paid in the region do not offer merit pay, including Winslow, Lenape Regional, Burlington City, Mount Laurel and Cherry Hill.
Because of the cap, dozens of superintendents left the state for higher salaries elsewhere and districts had difficulty recruiting educators. Others negotiated merit pay and bonuses to boost their earnings.
Gov. Phil Murphy speaks with members of the media after meeting with Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill at the governor’s office in Trenton last month.
Superintendent salaries can vary, as boards negotiate contracts based on experience, district size, and other factors.
The New Jersey Department of Education must approve contracts,including merit pay provisions and goals. Executive county school superintendents review contracts for each district.
Purnell said his association, which provides guidance to more than 600 New Jersey school boards, generally steers them away from considering merit pay. Longevity pay, however, is encouraged as an incentive to keep quality superintendents, he said.
Many superintendents are less interested in pursuing additional goals because merit pay is not factored into pensions, Purnell said.
When merit pay is in a contract, the board and the superintendent establish merit goals at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the year, the superintendent must submit evidence that the goals were met. The executive county superintendent must sign off on the request before any bonuses are paid.
The state specifies quantitative and qualitative goals that may be included in merit pay. It also sets the value of each goal, a percentage of the superintendent’s base salary.
Based on a district’s needs, merit pay may be given for meeting goals such as reducing chronic absenteeism, increasing student achievement, setting up learning academies, or establishing a foundation.
Hibbs’ goals approved by the board include completing Google training presentations, taking online professional development courses, and beefing up security.
In September, records show, the executive county superintendent approved $9,072 in merit pay for Barrington Superintendent Anthony Arcodia for meeting two goals — improved parent communication and overhauling the parent-student handbook.
Barrington school board president Mark Correa said Arcodia waived his right to merit pay for the 2025-26 school year because of the district’s belt-tightening. He will be eligible for merit pay in future years, he said.
The district “believes in rewarding our high-achieving, long-serving superintendent when possible,” Correa wrote in an email this week.
Some school chiefs get a stipend for holding an additional administrative position, such as serving as superintendent and a school principal, typically in smaller districts.
What are the drawbacks of merit pay?
Purnell said merit goals can muddy the waters for districts because superintendents could become so focused on those goals that they lose sight of the overall strategic plan.
“The question would be why do you need to receive merit pay when it’s your responsibility to provide a thorough and efficient education,” Purnell said. “You don’t want the goal to become more important than the best interest of all children.”
“Student outcomes are the result of a whole system and are heavily influenced by factors outside one leader’s control,” Campbell said. “If a district uses merit pay at all, I recommend it be a small slice of compensation.”
West Deptford Superintendent Brian Gismondi poses for a portrait outside the West Deptford Child Development Center in West Deptford earlier this year.
How common is merit pay nationwide?
Merit pay does exist in other states.Earlier this year, the state-appointed superintendent for the Houston Independent School District received a $173,660 bonus based on his annual performance evaluation, which credited him with boosting standardized test scores. His annual base salary is $462,000.
Nationwide, the median salary for a school superintendent was $156,000 for the 2023-24 school year, according to the School Superintendents Association. The group does not track merit pay.
The median superintendent salary among 91 South Jersey school districts was $176,088 for the 2024-25 school year, an Inquirer analysis found.
In Philadelphia, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. recently received a contract extension that will keep him in the nation’s eighth-largest school district through 2030. He is paid $367,710. He does not get merit pay.
Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr.
What’s happening with merit pay in Washington Township?
In Washington Township,Hibbs has the most lucrative merit package in South Jersey. He received $25,000 in bonus pay for the 2023-24 school year, according to district records obtained by The Inquirer under the state’s Open Public Records Act.
Hibbs has asked the board several times to approve $27,319 in merit pay for the 2024-25 school year, indicating he had met four of the five goals approved by the board. His contract allows an annual merit bonus of up to 14.99% of his salary, the maximum permitted by the state.
The request has been rejected by the board, failing to get five votes needed. The dispute is expected to lead to another legal showdown between Hibbs and the board.
During a heated exchange at a board meeting last month, Hibbs accused the board of retribution. He was suspended for five months earlier this year over an ethics complaint. A judge ordered his return and Hibbs was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
“My merit pay that was 100% approved and achieved has been consistently voted down by certain members,” Hibbs said at a recent school board meeting.
Hibbs was hired in 2023 with an annual base salary of $215,000, making him among the highest-paid superintendents in South Jersey. His contract runs through 2027.
Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.
Even after more than two decades of operating a financial advisory in the Philadelphia region, Joel Steele is inspired when clients tell him they want to donate money to charity.
“But the problem is that it’s gotten much more difficult to know if your donations are going to the people you are directly trying to help,” said Steele, co-owner and financial adviser with Steele Financial Solutions in Cherry Hill. “Charity scammers are running rampant.”
Solicitors are on the phone, at your door, in your email, and in your mailbox.
“We’re constantly inundated with people looking to take our money and put it in their pockets for the wrong reasons,” Steele said. “This has led many people to back off — in part or in full from — donating to charities.”
One way to reduce the chance of misappropriation is to contact the charity directly, Steele said. “Yes, it’s easier to put cash in a tin can or buy things from a stranger, but these are more likely to end up in that person’s pocket.”
Also, he recommends, when you donate directly to charities, get a receipt and check with your income tax preparer or review deduction guidelines to understand potential tax benefits.
Evaluating Giving Tuesday solicitations
Everyone knows about Black Friday shopping, and recent years have seen the additions of Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday in the days after Thanksgiving.
In 2012, Giving Tuesday joined the lineup, promoted by the 92nd Street Y in New York and the United Nations Foundation. It caught on quickly, as more organizations joined in on the opportunity to fundraise.
Giving Tuesday encourages generosity, but it’s also a time for scammers to ramp up fraud tactics. Scammers may use fake charities or misuse real ones to take advantage of donors.
If you get direct mail or a call, text, email, or social media message asking you to donate to a nonprofit, pause for a moment to dig deeper.
Your heart immediately wants to say “yes,” said Katherina ‘Kat’ Rosqueta, founding executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. But unless you have personally been helped by that nonprofit or know someone who was, it’s hard to know whether the nonprofit is actually making a difference.
“That’s where your head comes in,” Rosqueta said. Consider running a quick Internet search for the charity’s name, along with “scam” or “complaints” to see if there have been any negative feedback or investigations, she said.
Katherina Rosqueta is the founding executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Of course, most donors want to do more than just avoid fraud.
“They want their donation to make a real difference,” Rosqueta said.
Her center at Penn created a “High Impact Giving Toolkit,” updated each year and available for free. It highlights vetted nonprofits and provides links to organizations like Candid, Charity Navigator, and BBB Wise Giving Alliance, where potential donors can learn about organizations’ programs, team, and finances.
“Once you feel confident about a nonprofit’s work, consider donating online through an official, secure nonprofit website that uses HTTPS encryption,” Rosqueta said.
“Avoid links in unsolicited emails or social media posts. Credit cards and checks offer better fraud protection than debit cards or wire transfers,” Rosqueta said.
How to make online donations safer
The key to understanding fraud is that most scammers prey on your emotions.
“Fear, urgency, and promise of a quick win are some elements that exist in so many scam scenarios,” said Christopher Blackmore of TD Bank in Mount Laurel, who works in customer education in financial crimes prevention.
Blackmore said most “bad actors” will reach out and provide a number to call, link to click, or instructions for payment. “The goal is to make scenarios seem so real that you feel you must reply or something will happen.”
Financial industries should never ask for login credentials, passwords, or one-time pass codes, Blackmore said. “Technology is making it very difficult to identify what is real vs. fake.”
A text, email, or phone call is a very quick and easy way to contact a lot of people quickly and ask for a donation.
“These tactics are known as phishing, vishing, and smishing,” Blackmore said. A newer tactic, known as “Quishing,” utilizes QR codes.
When a donation ask includes a request for payments using gift cards, wires, and cryptocurrency, that should immediately raise caution, Blackmore said.
Donors might want to consider a third-party platform like PayPal, which safeguards sensitive financial information.
“Donors should stay mindful online and keep an eye out for the warning signs of common scams, including being wary of unexpected messages from strangers,” said Nick Aldridge, Global CEO of PayPal Giving Fund.
“We always encourage supporting causes you care about through trusted channels like PayPal Giving Fund, the PayPal Cause Hub, and Venmo Charity Profiles,” Aldridge said.
