The misery and suffering in Haiti is profound, and many of us are opening our wallets to help the earthquake victims.  Let’s just be sure we are giving to a legitimate, honest charity and not to a scam artist.

The FBI warns about phony emails asking for money, which also could contain malicious virus programs or link to phishing websites.  And I  warn you to be careful of fake charities whose name sounds oh, so close to a legitimate one. 

Give only to well-known charities, or to your local religious group.   If in doubt, check Charity Navigator, a non-profit watchdog site that rates charities for their honesty, reliability and perfomance. 

These charities are some of the ones which have received a four-star top rating from Charity Navigator –