VERIFY Fast Facts: 4 ways to spot charity donation scams

Have you ever been asked to donate to charity? Scammers can prey on people’s generosity, especially after a tragedy, by pretending to be fundraising for a cause.

Here are four ways to VERIFY whether donation pages are real or fake, and avoid charity fraud scams. 

THE SOURCES

• The office of the New York Attorney General
• FBI
• Fight Cybercrime
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

1. Do your research to VERIFY the charity is credible

When you find a charity or cause you want to support, there are resources to help determine if the charity is legitimate. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), these are some organizations that can help you research charities:

• BBB Wise Giving Alliance
• Charity Navigator
• CharityWatch
• Candid

A recent release from the New York attorney general’s office said when researching, look into newly formed organizations carefully. 

“Often, in the aftermath of tragedies, new organizations emerge to meet community needs. While most of these organizations are well-intentioned, and some may provide innovative forms of assistance, some may not have the experience or infrastructure to follow through on their promises, and some may turn out to be scams,” the release said.

2. Be wary of donation pages soliciting through email

The New York attorney general’s warning said, “If you receive a solicitation by email, find out who is behind that email address. Contact the charity whose name is in the email or visit its website to find out if the email is really from the charity. Do not give personal information or your credit card number in response to an email solicitation unless you have checked out the charity.”

Fight Cybercrime, an organization that provides cybercrime and scam awareness, says valid charity organizations will not include an attachment in their email communications.

The FBI offers this advice: Don't click links or open email attachments from someone you don't know, manually type out links instead of clicking on them and don’t provide any personal information.

RELATED: VERIFY Fact Sheet: 5 tips to spot email scams

3. VERIFY the method of payment and don’t pay cash

According to the FBI, if a charity or organization asks you to donate through cash, gift card, virtual currency, or wire transfer, it's probably a scam.

The FTC adds:

• To be safer, pay by credit card or check.
• It’s a good practice to keep a record of all donations. Review your statements closely to make sure you’re only charged the amount you agreed to donate – and that you’re not signed up to make a recurring donation. Keeping track also helps determine if your donation would be tax deductible.

4. Pay attention to the red flags

According to Fight Cybercrime, individuals should be suspicious of anyone trying to contact you claiming to be a victim, or trying to rush you into making a donation.

“Scammers often make lots of vague and sentimental claims but give no specifics,” Fight Cybercrime says.

Some other telltale signs of a charity scam, according to the FTC, include: 

• Some scammers try to trick you into paying them by thanking you for a donation that you never made.
• Scammers can change caller ID to make a call look like it’s from a local area code.
• Some scammers use names that sound a lot like the names of real charities. This is one reason it pays to do some research before giving.
• Bogus organizations may claim that your donation is tax-deductible when it is not.
• Guaranteeing sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a donation is not only a scam, it’s illegal.

If you do fall victim to a scam, Fight Cybercrime says you should cease all contact with the suspicious organization or individual, contact your bank immediately, run a credit check to make sure your credit history wasn’t tampered with and save all information and correspondence in case you need to file a formal criminal report.