'Tis the Season

The season for giving is here again. Some hi-tech spammers are ringing in this time of the year with spam that asks for your donation. The message speaks of a hard life and then asks for clothing, blankets or better yet, a monetary donation.

Watch out for the spam and those emails telling that you have won or that out of the rest of the world, this one person in need found you, the answer to their prayers... Be skeptical. Our companion site, BankersOnline has an extensive number of examples of spam and scam letters here and a lot of great information on ID theft and phishing here.

Before you donate, investigate the charity so you know where your money is going. Charity Navigator is one site that may help. You don't want your money going to a scam artist who will then use it to do even more illegal activity.