Beware of Haiti Relief Scams!

It’s hard to believe that in a time of crisis people could stoop so low as to try to scam people trying to help out those in need. The Haitian earthquake disaster of January 12th 2010, however, has seen it’s fair share of scammers preying on those who would help.

If you’re looking for a way to donate to help the people of Haiti, we suggest you go directly to the charitable organization(s) themselves, or through a trusted source, in order for you to not fall for a scam. To help you find a reliable source we have put the links of a few organizations who are taking the donations and putting the money to good use.

• Red Cross Donation Page

  Clicking on this link takes you to the Red Cross donation form online, where you may choose how you would like your donation distributed.

• Google Disaster Relief Page

  You may also visit Google’s page to donate to other charities such as UNICEF and CARE.

• If you’d like a really simple way to donate, you may donate to the Red Cross via a text message. Just text the word “HAITI” to 90999 and $10 will be sent to Red Cross relief efforts.

UPDATE: USA Today has an article about the FBI fielding over 170 Haiti fund-raising scams recently. The FBI has a team of computer analysts and fraud investigators reviewing the scam complaints.