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Useful Tips to Avoid Charity Scams

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The holidays bring out the best in people giving, but also the worst in con artists. With some careful research, giving to reputable charities can be part of the holiday season.

Visiting websites like Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance  and Charity Watch.org determine if charities are legitimate. They also analyze how reputable charities spend their funds. There are other ways people can avoid falling victim to fraudulent charities.

From Kiplinger Personal Finance:

Don’t pledge money to an unknown charity over the phone or click on a link in an e-mail. The IRS recently issued a consumer alert about possible scams relating to the South Carolina floods. Scam artists have been making phone calls, sending e-mails and creating fake Web sites posing as charities that are collecting money to help victims of the floods. Some of these crooks won’t stop at stealing your money; if they get your credit card, bank information or Social Security number, they could also steal your identity.

Several Web sites make it easy to check whether the charities are legitimate and to find reputable ones that are doing similar work. Most of these sites also analyze the charities’ financial situations and rate their effectiveness.

It’s also advised to not to give money to door-to-door solicitors claiming to collect money for charity.

Photo by Steven Depolo via Flickr CC License

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