Beware Online Charities

Many people have large, generous and giving hearts. Many people donate money to online charities to help the needy, those with illnesses, animal activists and more. If you're one of these people, good for you! It is an amazing thing to give what you can to someone who is in need or to research illnesses in the hopes of finding a cure. It is also a wonderful thing to help those who protect animals and their rights as well. If you do give to charities, you should know one thing. Not all of the charities online are real. In fact, there are criminals and con-artists who take advantage of people's generosity and kindness. They post fake charities, get you involved so that you want to 'make a difference,' and they line their pockets and wallets with the checks you send. So, while you think you're helping someone who is in need, you may be only helping someone who is full of greed. Here are some really good tips for avoiding 'charities' like this. 

• Do your research on a charity. We are so full of empathy for people sometimes that we get emotional about a sad story or a problem and we get our checkbooks out and go to writing before we think. Unfortunately, while this is a wonderful quality to have, we must be careful. Find out what you can about a charity before you send them anything. 

• See if you can contact someone who has been helped by the charity before. Many charities tell you personal stories of people that they have been able to help through donations. If you can contact this person, find out what they were helped with and any other information that will help you realize if the charity in question is legitimate or real. 

• Check to see what address they are giving you to send the money to. If you can get the address, you can find out the owner of the address. Here's how – 

If you want to find out if the owner of the charity is a criminal, all you need is the address. Visit one of the websites that allow you to look up someone's background through their address! One of them is www.ReverseGenie.com. Through this website, you can enter the address of the charity. After submitting that information, you will have access to the name and phone number of the person associated with the address. You will also receive marriage and death certificates, civil and criminal court records, national and local court records and more. So, if this charity is a criminal who is trying to fund his next dirty deed, you will know about it. This is a great way to make sure that your hard earned money is really going to help people get better, get the things they need or whatever. Make sure that it's not going into the pockets of a criminal and a scammer.