Written by The Haiti earthquake has got me thinking how easy it can be to exploit people’s good nature.
With the collective conscience of so many people being pricked, especially on social networking sites such as Twitter, it would be easy to set up a website claiming to be collecting for the Haiti earthquake victims. For career criminals creating a website that looks like a real bona-fide charity website is a piece of cake and it happens all the time.
With people re-tweeting website URLs at the drop of a hat, usually using a URL shortening service, how many people actually check the website URL they are going to?
Use the whois service to check the owner of the website and make sure you are giving your money to a respected organisation, and not a criminal.
Ask yourself if the URL looks genuine, and if you are unsure, then ask someone who might know.
Before handing over your hard earned cash to any charity appeal, make sure the website you are on is not a scam.