By Mackenna Jamieson

There are many people who want to help support those affected by the wildfires in Australia by donating money or other supplies, but there could be possible scam artists posing as those charities and relief funds.

Better Business Bureau (BBB) Spokesperson Karla Laird says that people should look out for those scams and do a background check on the charities first.

“There’s really no guarantee that these fundraising attempts are going to be going where you want them to go, and to help the situation going on in Australia,” she said on the NL Morning News.

“So it’s very important that you do your research to ensure that you are giving money or your resources to an organization you can trust to help the actual need.”

A good idea, she noted, is to check the credibility of a charity before you donate.

“So you want to make sure that you have the exact name of the charity that you want to support or the organization that you want to support in order to avoid a case of mistaken identity or you know even in this case, the case of scammers where they try to impersonate an organization that they know will get the trust and also the donations from consumers,” said Laird.

And she says registered Canadian charities under the ‘Income Tax Act’ can not only help the recipients of the donations, but also the Canadians that donate.

“What I do love about Canadian charities is that you know because of the fact that they are registered Canadian charity under the Income Tax Act, your contribution especially depending on the amount you choose to contribute will be tax deductible,” she said.

“Which means you get a tax credit and you can use that for the next tax season.”

The Australian Wildfires have devastated over 12 million acres of land on the continent and killed at least 28 people. It’s also led to about 900 million metric tons of carbon emissions and potentially the death of half a billion animals.