This month's question: Are those heartfelt email pleas for charity for real? (yeah, sometimes)

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If you received an email in the past few weeks asking for your help to save NPR from losing its funding, you may have shaken your head in disbelief that someone was still circulating that old hoax. The irony is that although the fake NPR email has been around since 1995, the message in the emails of the past few weeks was actually REAL. NPR was in danger of losing funding and it really did need your help.

These days with spam and phishing and who knows what other scams we haven't heard of yet, it's tougher to decipher when an email plea should be ignored…or taken to heart. Sometimes, but not all that often, the pleas are real and the causes are good. This month, we sort through when to open your heart and when to deadbolt the door.

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And then there's my book, The Identity Theft Protection Guide.

Americans are generous people. We rally to causes like no other society on the planet, to the tune of more than $240 billion annually. Charities know this, so they send us emails asking for aid of one kind or another. Scammers know this too which is why a lot of them pretend to be charities asking us for aid.

The best advice for dealing with charity email is to ignore any that don't come from a known and trusted source - which will be most of them. On those occasions, when a plea really does capture your heart or an email is forwarded by a friend that you really, really want to believe, STOP. Before you click, check out the story behind the email.

TruthorFiction.com does the legwork in tracking down the facts of specific emails. It tells us that the message to help identify a boy separated from his family in the tsunami really did unite a two year old orphan with an Uncle. It also lets us know that the campaign to keep Toby the Rabbit's owner from eating him is probably a publicity stunt and that the plea to forward an email to help fund medical treatments for a 10 year old girl is actually harmful to the Make A Wish foundation.

Hoaxbusters is mostly focused on bogus virus warnings but does report other kinds of fake email. Urban Legends list the top scams circulating each week. It also lets you test your hoax trivia knowledge. StopScum.com offers warning signs to look for- things like listing PO boxes instead of street addresses, not having a phone number or asking you to reply to freemail accounts.

Okay. If one of these websites hasn't fingered your email as a fraud, your next step is to think about what you're being asked to do. If the sender wants you to give money, first check out the reputation of the charity with Charity Navigator, Charity Watch, GuideStar or the Better Business Bureau. Donate directly to the charity by typing their URL into your browser window or writing a letter - don't EVER click on a link in the email. You might end up giving money to a crook with no connection with the charity.

Think twice if you're being asked to click on an ad banner or forward an email. Forwarding schemes are often used by spammers trying to harvest new email addresses. Requests to click on an ad banner may direct you to malicious sites that will infect your computer with a virus or worse. And honestly, if a charitable request has commanded this much of your attention already, you should probably just give them money.

Finally, before you respond emotionally to an emotional email request, think about whether or not you approve of what that charity is doing. Email blasts to random names are not the right tactic for a reputable organization to adopt. If they did nothing to earn your trust, you shouldn't give it to them. If a friend forwards an email without taking the time to be sure that it isn't dangerous, let her know that you'd rather she didn't put you at risk too. Breakthechain.org offers tips on how to do this nicely.

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