Have You Donated to a Fake Charity?
You might have given money to a donation scam without knowing it
High-profile disasters create a wave of criminals taking advantage of people who want to help victims. Charity scams proliferate on social media and crowdfunding sites, and fraudsters use emails, calls, or home visits to get what they want. After the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, social media removed hundreds of charities that were created days after the beginning of the conflict and took donations in cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Right now, Facebook is filled with new pages that ask for donations for victims of the Israel/HAMAS conflict. They have three followers and provide links for direct donations to shady websites. I just saw this post on LinkedIn about new suspicious domains registered to help victims of the war.
Fake charities made the news last year when the New York Times uncovered that the IRS approved 76 fake charities that shared the same address and were responsible for $152,000 in victims’ losses.
How to Spot a Fake Charity
Report fake charities
领英推荐
Check if a charity is real
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