People wishing to give to the Haiti relief effort can choose from numerous groups and a variety of methods — including texting and online donating.
Most organizations are requesting money over supplies.
The American Red Cross has established a program in which people can dial 90999, then text “Haiti” to give $10 to the agency’s International Response Fund. Donations also can be made by calling 1-800-RedCross or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or by going to redcross.org.
Other organizations include:
• International Rescue Committee at www.theIRC.org.
• Oxfam’s emergency appeal at www.oxfam.org.uk.
• Partners in Health at www.pih.org. The group also is looking for volunteer surgeons, nurses and surgical teams.
• Doctors Without Borders at www.doctorswithoutborders.org.
The FBI is reminding Internet users who receive appeals for money to beware of scams, including phony organizations.
The agency suggests:
• Not responding to unsolicited e-mails, including clicking links contained within messages.
• Being skeptical of people representing themselves as surviving victims
• Being cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because they may contain viruses.
• Not giving personal or financial information to solicitors to avoid identity theft.
• Contacting www.ic3.gov to report suspected fraud.
• Joseph Weber can be reached at jweber@washingtontimes.com.old.
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