I do like the part that is talking about Allah rewarding us even if they are lying. Subhanallah. U made me ponder.

Interesting story about Muslims asking for charity:

My husband, sisters and I were walking to a mall on a busy street when we were stopped mid-street by a pair of bearded ''pious looking'' men with thobes and kufis. They stopped my husband just to say salaam and shook hands. (although decent men usually do not disturb men who are out with female members of family). We thought they just wanted to say hi-hello to fellow muslims, but then they whipped out a pamphlet with pictures of a Madrassah and started telling him about how they need funds to build this madrassah etc etc. Thats when I stepped up and politely decilned and told them we needed to be somehwere, the bearded guy interrupted me and said "sister, please!'' and resumed talking to my husband. My husband, bieng an innocent American who hasn't had much experience in Asia, gave him 50 bucks in local currency which is a good amount, considering he had 200 bucks in his wallet. (I disapproved of of even that much.). As my husband was flipping through his currency notes, he kept peeking into the wallet, when my husband handed him the 50, he said "'Thats all brother? I am sure you can do much better.. this is nothing''. When I heard him say that I was so incensed!!!! That's when my husband just said his goodbyes and we moved on.

I just don't trust people like that. I think our 50 bucks encouraged them to go attack more muslim looking families and guilt-trip them into handing over the entire wallet....

I see no problem with people being friends on-line or off-line. Especially since there are too many enemies in this world... However, these friendships must be open and mindful of Allah (SWT).
People taking advantage of other people is as old as humanity. That is why God put us here so that we may know one another. The bad people in the world should not deter the good people from treating each other with kindness.

I think we should do some sort of a background check, or know through a reliable source that the person is genuine. I think if we give money away without knowing the genuineness of the person, we are 1) encouraging scam artists and bad behavior 2) we are depriving an actually genuine person from charity.

MashAllah a lot of muslims give charity, often in big amounts, yet we don't really see it reaching the poor... simply due to mismanagement of funds. Be careful whom you give your Halal-earned rizq to.

My humble opinion is that giving charity online to unknown persons is a big no-no. Only give to people you know are genuine, or to reputable organizations/people.