Charity & Disaster Relief Scams
5 minute read
Compassion is good. A donation link still has to earn trust.
Do these before the deep dive
- Do not donate through unexpected texts, comments, direct messages, or pressure links.
- Look up the charity yourself and donate from the official site.
- For personal fundraisers, verify the organizer's connection to the person or family.
- If you donated through a fake page, contact the card issuer or payment provider.
Steal this sentence
I want to help, so I am going to donate through the official charity site instead of this link.
Disasters create urgency. Scammers use that urgency because good people do not want to sit around verifying things while other people are suffering.
You can care and still check the link.
Donate Through The Front Door
If you already know the charity, type the address yourself or search for it carefully.
If you do not know the charity, slow down and look for:
- A clear organization name.
- A real website not built only for the current crisis.
- Clear information about where money goes.
- A payment path that does not route to a random personal account.
- Independent coverage or references outside the fundraiser itself.
For local tragedies, verify through someone actually connected to the family, school, church, workplace, or community group.
The Guilt Button
Some scam fundraisers use shame as the sales pitch: “If you really cared, you would donate now.”
That is not how legitimate help works. Real charities and real families do not need you to bypass basic safety to prove you are a decent person.
If You Donated To A Fake Page
Contact your card issuer or payment provider. Save the fundraiser link, organizer profile, receipt, and messages.
Report the page to the platform. If it was fraud, you can also report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.