Haiti Relief: How To Make Sure Donations Go Where Needed

Our thoughts and prayers today are with the people of Haiti and those injured or killed in the terrible earthquake, and with their families and friends. We urge our readers to do all they can to help with the relief efforts. UNICEF and other well known organizations are probably the safest way to contribute. With the growth of the Internet and social media, we have to be vigilant to make sure that our donations are not misused as they all too often have been in the past after tragedies and natural disasters, when individuals with criminal intent solicited contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause.

With that said, the FBI has some suggestions that we should keep in mind before making donations:
·                     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.
·                     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.
·                     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.