Fakecharity donation scams trick people into donating money to fraudulentorganizations pretending to support a noble cause. Scammers exploitemotions and generosity, using fake websites, social media pages, oreven phone calls to collect donations. These scams often appearduring holidays, disasters, or global crises.
How This Can Happen to Us:
Scammers useemotional appeals, fake endorsements, and stolen images to createconvincing charity campaigns. They may send emails, make calls, oreven knock on doors asking for donations. If we don’t verify thelegitimacy of a charity, we may unknowingly fund fraudsters.
Example of Scam:
In 2020, scammers createdfake COVID-19 relief charities, pretending to help healthcare workersand struggling families. Many people donated money, only to realizethe charity didn’t exist, and the funds were stolen.
How to Protect Yourself:
Research the charity through sites like Charity Navigator or GuideStar.
Verify official websites instead of donating through links sent via messages.
Be cautious of charities that pressure you for immediate donations.
Donate through official channels rather than unknown third-party payment links.