Avoiding Disaster Relief Scams: The same advice the IRS provided in the wake of Hurricane Katrina applies to the Haitian earthquake and other natural disasters: (1) don't give out personal financial information, such as Social Security Numbers or credit card or bank account numbers, to solicitors of contributions; (2) don't send cash, but contribute by check or credit card instead; and (3) be wary of charities with names that sound familiar or similar to nationally known organizations. The IRS website has a list of organizations that are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=96136,00.html?portlet=7). An article on www.reuters.com advices donors to: "Delete unsolicited charity emails and never click on links contained in any email you don't recognize. Also dump unsolicited emails that claim to have photos of Haiti victims or other graphic disaster pictures in attached files—the files may contain viruses or programs that can steal personal or financial information from your computer."

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