WE'VE ALL HEARD THE horror stories about swindlers who prey on our good intentions by pretending to raise money for charities. Instead, they keep it themselves and, in the process, hurt the legitimate charities.

So we're happy to learn that the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on the practice and, perhaps more importantly, that it has joined forces with 34 states to try to educate the public about the problem.

S.C. Secretary of State Mark Hammond, who campaigned on a pledge to fight these scams, noted last week that too many fraudulent telemarketers "pick the most popular charitable causes -- support for police or firefighters and their families, veterans' relief, cancer victims and terminally ill children -- to effectively tug dollars from sympathetic and community-minded individuals."

He advises consumers to protect themselves by asking questions before giving, calling the supposed recipient of the contributions to make sure they are getting money, checking the charity on his Web site (http://www.scsos.com/) and reporting any suspicions at 1-888-CHARITI. Additional tips are available at the FTC website: www.ftc.gov/charityfraud.

The swindlers will continue to succeed only as long as we allow them to.