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How To Avoid Scam Artist When Donating To Tsunami Relief
Author: Richard A. Chapo
Millions of people have shown their true character
by making cash donations to charitable groups providing
relief to those devastated by the Tsunami. While your
actions are a shining example of the best traits of people,
a few unsavory groups are trying to make a profit off of the
tragedy.

You can avoid these scam artists by taking a few simple
steps. Charitable organizations rely on tax- deductible
contributions as their primary funding source. Before an
organization can offer the benefit of a tax deduction for
donations, it must be classified as such by the Internal
Revenue Service. The process is arduous and effectively acts
as an informal investigation of the legitimacy of the
charitable organization in question. Fortunately, the IRS
makes this information available to the public.

You can check the legitimacy of a charitable organization by
either contacting the IRS or accessing the agency list of
charitable organizations on the Internet as follows:

IRS Customer Service: 1-800-829-1040

http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78

The above link to the IRS takes you to a page where you can
conduct a publication 78 search. Publication 78 is a list of
all charitable organizations that have qualified for
tax-exempt status with the IRS. Scam artist and unsavory
characters are not going to be listed with the IRS. If the
organization you are considering does not appear in
Publication 78, you may wish to consider another
organization that is on the list.

E-mail Scams

You should be cautious if you receive an e-mail requesting
money for the relief effort. The e-mail may not be from a
legitimate organization. Fraudulent e-mail campaigns are at
an unbelievable level. If you are determined to make a
contribution because of an e-mail you received, make sure
that you check out the organization with the IRS as
indicated above.

Unfortunately, there is a second problem with responding to
an e-mail solicitation for monetary donations. Assume that
you regularly make donations to a large charity organization
and you receive a request for a donation from that
organization to help with the tragedy in Asia. You can
safely click the link in the email and make a donation,
correct? Maybe not. There is still a risk that the email is
a scam. Many online businesses have ongoing problems with
scam artists copying their sites, logos, headings, etc., and
sending e-mail solicitations to scam individuals. There is
no reason to believe that charitable organizations would be
any less of a target, so be careful.

A third and final problem exists with email solicitations
for donations. Most people incorrectly assume that when they
see a familiar domain name in the body of an email, it means
the email is legitimate. Domain names can easily be faked
through a domain name masking program. It gets a bit
technical, but just keep in mind that domain name in the
body of an email means little.

If you still compelled to respond to an email solicitation
with a donation, you should use a search engine to search
for the organization listed in the email. Once you click on
to the site, you can make your donation in confidence.

You donations make a world of difference for so many people
in need. By following the above recommendations, you can
make sure that your donation is made to a legitimate
charitable organization.

About the Author

Richard Chapo is CEO of http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com -
Obtaining tax refunds for small businesses by finding
overlooked tax deductions and credits through a free tax
return review. He can be reached at
richard@businesstaxrecovery.com.

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