The tragic situation in Haiti required a tremendous response from the Federal government, as well as individuals. This was a good time to remind ourselves of important safety measures related to disaster relief donations.
Internet users receiving appeals to donate money for any present or future disaster, should use due diligence before responding:
- Do not respond to unsolicited incoming e-mail and NEVER click links contained in those messages, since they may lead to phishing sites, or upload viruses and/or malware to your computer.
- Make contributions directly to disaster response organizations rather than individuals representing themselves as victims or public officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
- When making a contribution, contact the disaster relief organization directly using information found in an independent source - such as a phone book or 411 - rather than following a purported link to the site.
- Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit charitable organizations by utilizing various Internet based resources, such as www.give.org
- Make contributions directly to recognizable organizations - rather than relying on others to make the donations on your behalf - to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.
- Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files - these files may contain viruses.
- Never 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.
The bottom line is to act wisely. Being charitable is an excellent way to conduct our lives, but it should not place us in jeopardy of being victimized by unscrupulous scammers.
(Note: Print this page if you wish to save it for your records.
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