There are many seniors who choose to give back in a variety of ways during their retirement. Unfortunately, because of this, they have become one of the main targets of many scam artists. Some might lead you to believe you have won some sort of prize while others will ask you to contribute money to those that are in need on the other side of the world. It's likely that you spent years working to earn the money for your retirement. Here are some tips to make sure some of it doesn't get lost to a scam.

The first thing you should be aware of is the sort of information that they are asking you for. If they want your bank account information, credit card, or any personal information like your passport number than you should definitely be suspicious of their intentions. You also might want to check the name of the company with scam websites and look to see if they have a website of their own. Everyone has some sort of presence online today and shouldn't be all that hard to find.

Ask for contact information for that person or organization and make sure it's valid before giving them any sort of money. If you call the number they have given you and it comes up as the line for someone else than you know that there's likely going to be a problem. Also be suspicious of those companies that use free email services for their accounts. If their email address ends in something like Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail than you might want to check up on their credentials further before moving forward with a donation.

You should never have to give over any sort of money or personal information before receiving a prize. You should also be wary of those people offering prizes where you don't know how they got a hold of your contact information. If you signed up for a door prize this is another thing entirely. The most important thing is to always know something about the people that you're talking to.

Before you give money to any organization, you should do some research to make sure that they are deserving of what you're about to give them. Working for years gives you the right to ask people to wait until you are ready to make a donation. This goes for those on the phone, over email and those coming to your door.