I sent the following e-mail to [email protected]:

To whom it may concern:

A friend of mine sent me a link to savetoby.com. When I argued against the logic of the attempt to relieve a crisis that is merely created by the request for such relief, the friend argued in defense of the site in question based upon the claim that all excess money will be donated to charities. In response, I ask that the foilowing concerns be addressed:

How can we trust your claims? We cannot even be sure if Toby exists, much less that all extra money will go to charity. The only response that I can surmise is the character of the webmaster, but that character is called into question by the very act of threatening to kill a pet.

What is the point in contributing to savetoby.com when this only dilutes the charitable impact of the donation relative to donating directly to various deserving organizations? I would rather give less toward the maintenance of savetoby.com and use that money for efforts to actually help suffering people.

Is it not against individuals’ financial interest to support charities via savetoby.com? Since savetoby.com is apparently not a 501(c)(3) organization, donating via this site would prevent anyone from having valid claim to a tax deduction for the final charitable contributions.

Speaking of taxation, the individual receiving the contributions is acquiring a tax liability from receiving huge gifts of money. Even when the site operator is able to make deductions for charitable contributions, a significant tax burden will likely remain. Will this be paid from the operator’s own money? If not, then will money from the contributions to the site not have to be used to pay the IRS? If this is the case, then people should be made aware that obligations to the relevant tax authorities will be a major expense that will dilute the charitable impact of their donations.

I ask that you respond to these concerns in order to provide adequate information about your public appeal for funds. If not addressed, then these concerns will only give me cause to conclude that your web site is a fraud.