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Employees warned of possible scams
related to Haiti relief donations

We have received the following information from The Office of the CIO.

Most people are aware that the internet is rife with scams and fake information, when they are preparing to donate to a charity after a disaster or emergency, they often aren't thinking about the criminals who are poised to take their money.

There are several good resources for finding out what the good charities are, but the best is probably the Better Business Bureau which is researching the charities and providing advice on how to make sure you're giving to a legitimate charity.

Advice on how to tell if a charity is legitimate or not:

http://www.bbb.org/us/article/bbb-advises-donors-on-how-to-vet-haiti-earthquake-charity-appeals-14644

The current BBB listing of legitimate charities:

http://www.bbb.org/us/article/charities-providing-haiti-earthquake-relief-14690

In addition to fake charities, there are many Web sites which have been developed to infect your computer if you search for news and information about the disaster. Go to known legitimate Web sites for news, do not just click on any link you get from a Google search or from any search engine results.

Finally, you can expect another huge influx of spam e-mails that purport to provide videos, news, photos, or charity information. Most of these will lead you to provide privacy information or will take you to Web sites designed to infect your computer. Never click on a link from an e-mail such as these, even if it was forwarded to you from a friend. Just because a friend fell for a scam e-mail doesn't mean you need to as well.

Here are some links that give excellent information overall about the scams:

http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm

http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3524.aspx?cmpid=slalert

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/haiti_disaster_scams.html