Disaster Relief Scam

The Scam
Every disaster such as 9-11 and the tsunami, brings out the best out of people with millions in donations. Unfortunately it also brings out the worst out of some through theft of donations as well as identity theft. In a matter of hours after any disaster, the phone calls start, the emails come and the websites go up. All of which ask for donations to help the victims of the current devastation. Be warned that not all the requests you receive are authentic. They may outright take your money or only send a very small portion to the needy. Some may take your credit card information for the purpose of stealing your identity.

The Solution
Prevention and awareness is the key to this type of identity theft scam. Before you make a solicited donation, verify that they are a legitimate charity organization. It would be even better that you initiate the donation yourself by calling or going to the website of a known agency. You may want to help the victims of a disaster, and you still can, but unless you want to become a victim of fraud or identity theft yourself do not give your personal or credit information to anyone who contacts you asking for help.

In this type of identity theft scam, the identity thieves cannot get your personal information or your money if you do not to give it to them.

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