Watch where you donate! There are thousands of fake charity websites that are created, which attempt to collect donations to help hurricane victims. Do research before making any donations and make sure that you're donating to the right charity.

If you're making any donations, avoid third party sites and organizations, and head straight to the charity's main website.

The FBI has issued warnings about Hurricane Irene charity scams, and has offered some excellent tips to protect you against charity scammers:

• Do not respond to unsolicited (SPAM) e-mail.
• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as officials soliciting via e-mail for donations.
• Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
• Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses.
• Only open attachments from known senders.
• To ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make contributions directly to  known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
• Validate the legitimacy of the organization by directly accessing the recognized charity or aid organization's website rather than following an alleged link to the site.
• Attempt to verify the legitimacy of the non-profit status of the organization by using various Internet-based resources, which also may assist in confirming the actual existence of the organization.
• Do not provide personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.

If you believe you have been a victim of a charity related scheme, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud by:

Telephone at (866) 720-5721 or Fax at (225) 334-4707