Memorial Day is three days away and with it will come a unique number of Memorial Day related scams.  Scammers are always timely and whatever has your attention, also has the attention of scammers, whether it is a natural disaster such as the recent Nepal earthquake, an untimely death of a celebrity or a major holiday.  In the case of Memorial Day, you can expect to be solicited by scammers by phone (remember legitimate charities can call you by phone even if you have enrolled in the Do Not Call List because it exempts charities), email or letters asking for your money for various veterans causes or charitable ventures tied to Memorial Day.

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You never know who is on the other line of a telemarketing call, so never trust them.  If you are at all interested in what they are selling or soliciting, ask them to send you written materials that you can then check out to see if it is legitimate.  When it comes to charities, a good place to go is www.charitynavigator.org where you can see if a charity is legitimate or a scam as well as actually see how much of the money they collect goes toward their charitable purposes and how much towards salaries and administrative costs.