Haitian Relief: Be Generous but Be Careful

Within a few days of Haiti’s massive earthquake, hundreds of thousands have already sent money to help those in such dire need. Unfortunately, in the wake of such a tragedy there are also plenty of scam artists eager to take advantage of well-meaning individuals. The word in the blogosphere, therefore, is be generous but be careful. The FBI issued an advisory of email scams that are already propagating throughout the Web. Here’s one such example:

Symantec noted a so-called 419-style e-mail that purported to come from the British Red Cross. A 419 scam, named after the number of a statute in Nigeria’s criminal code banning the practice, is one in which an e-mail or a letter implores a person to send money for some bogus reason. Read the full article at PC World.

There is no doubt that many are in desperate circumstances right now and the nation can use all the help it can get.  Make sure your donations are going to the right place by giving directly to reputable organizations to ensure contributions are received and used for the intended purposes.

Charity Navigator has issued a list of their 3 and 4-star charities responding to the crisis along with a synopsis of their plans. It includes organizations like the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and more. You can check out that list by clicking here.

Here are additional advisories from the FBI:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking on links contained within those messages.
• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
• Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit status rather than following a purported link to the site.
• Be cautious of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
• Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.
• Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft

To read the full advisory, click here.