Are all opportunities worth going after?

Before you answer that question based on your personal moral compass, let’s look at the definition.

An “opportunity” is defined as “a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances”.

It’s pretty much a given that when a possibility due to favorable circumstances comes to light, such as the relief efforts for the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Opportunists are taking advantage of people who want to make donations to help the victims.

Here are a few tips on avoiding becoming a victim of fraud:

Watch out for email scam’s – You probably already know my feelings about “Western Union” if you’ve read Slackers, Hackers, and Nigerian Scum Bags AKA Online Scammers where I debate the credibility of an organization that does not check on the validity electronic payments or ACH’s.

But if the FDIC is not monitoring the way Western Union, why should we get so irritated – OK that was meant to be a slam on the FDIC… One of many to come…

Back to my point, there are emails going around that is soliciting donations for victims – if you look at the IP address by opening up the email header specific to the email services you use, you can go to an IP look up and verify the sender is actually in the place he or she states that they are from http://ip-address-lookup-v4.com/. The Slackers, Hackers, and Nigerian Scum Bags post goes into this in greater detail.

Beware of donations from social networking sites as well as startup charity sites. Even if you know the person, you should contribute directly to an organization rather than through another individual.

There is a good chance that groups claiming to have just formed in response to a disaster are bogus because establishing a legitimate charity takes time.

I suggest you look at “Charity Navigator” before you decide to donate to a specific Disaster Fund in Japan. Charity Navigator has a list of well-established groups that are providing relief to victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

You also can research charities at the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance site.

As you’re selecting a charity, consider what you want your donation to accomplish. Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau offer this advice to consider before you give:

Don’t rush. Even if you feel an urgent need to help the disaster victims in Japan, you may want to wait to give until charities have time to develop a plan for providing aid.

Consider the type of aid a charity provides. Charities will respond to the disaster in many ways, from providing immediate medical assistance to long-term rebuilding efforts. And some charities may be acting as middlemen only — raising money to pass on to other groups. You need to decide what you want your contribution to accomplish and find a group providing that sort of aid. Charity Navigator provides links to the sites of groups providing relief in Japan so you can find out more about their efforts.

Designate your donation. Let the organization know that you want your contribution to be used for disaster relief in Japan. But be aware that your donation likely will not be used solely for assisting victims because some of the money may be used for the charity’s administrative costs.

Avoiding telemarketers is a given, especially in this day and time especially with all of the bad press on various telemarketing organizations, but I am a bit biased. Don’t give personal information over the phone to anyone who is soliciting donations. Research an organization before giving.

Make sure that the Web site is legitimate. Scammers set up bogus sites that mimic real charities’ sites. Misspellings of the organization’s name in the URL, or using an .info instead of a .org or .com.

When you have doubts, you may want to Google information to void bogus charities actively looking for donations in the guise of helping in the Japanese disaster relief. Here is what is being done in Texas to void bogus charities actively looking for donations in the guise of helping in the Japanese disaster relief.

If the link does not open – click on http://news.yahoo.com/video/austinkvue-tv-15750583/central-texans-warned-about-bogus-charities-in-japanese-disaster-relief-24540661

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