It didn’t take long, but the scammers have already started spamming for Haitian relief. I actually received my first scam for Haitian relief last night and while it looked legitimate, it wasn’t. I also received another spam early this morning that was legitimate – how do you tell the difference?

It’s hard to tell the difference, but there is one thing to keep in mind. Stay away from any email that lists web addresses to go to. Many of these sites can be built to look like the real thing, complete with credit card processing, in under 2 hours. Stay away from mobile phone texting numbers that you don’t know about as well. Texting the wrong number can cost much more than you realize, and the amount doesn’t go to a good cause.

Here are legitimate donation sites and numbers to text to: (This is, by no means, a full list)

Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/ – Red “Donate” button on top right.

Doctors without Borders: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/ – Red “Donate” button on top right.

CARE: http://www.care.org/ – “Donate Now” button in middle of page.

UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/ - Yellow “Haiti Earthquake Donate Now” on right of page.

$10 Donation for Wireless Subscribers: text ” HAITI ” to 90999 to make a $10 donation that is billed to your cell phone. 100% of all money donated will be passed on to the Red Cross.

$5 Donation for Wireless Subscribers: text ” YELE ” to 501501 to make a $5 donation that is billed to your cell phone. Campaign run by Wyclef Jean and Yele Haiti.

To see who is donating (larger businesses) and their amounts, visit the Huffington Post’s Relief Round Up page.

Again, this post is completely meant to protect you, your credit and your donations. If something doesn’t look right, it just may very well be a scam. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Justin

[Edit: As of 17Jan10, CNN has put together a story on this topic as well, complete with FBI commentary.]