It took less than one day for scammers to exploit the disaster in Haiti. You could very well be giving your money to some unknown individual in eastern Europe or the Ukraine. Follow these guidelines to make sure your money goes to the right organization. (taken from an
article on ZDNet)
* Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking 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. (visit snopes.com to check out scams)
* Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders. (although a friend of a friend may unwittingly pass on bad stuff)
* 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. (pick up the phone instead of donating online)
* 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.
If you want to donate money to the real organizations, consider going through Google’s
Support Disaster Relief in Haiti campaign page since all the valid domains are there.
-=[ Karl ]=-
