Fake Charity Scams: Red Flags, How to Verify, and Report

Fake charity scams cost Americans roughly $96 million in 2024, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, and they spike hardest right after hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters when donors are moving fast.¹ The defense is straightforward: verify the organization through the IRS before you give, pay by credit card so the transaction can be reversed, and if you’ve already been taken, dispute the charge, protect your identity, and file reports with the FTC and FBI. The details below walk through each step.

Red Flags That Mark a Charity as Fake

Most fraudulent solicitations follow the same script. A crisis is unfolding, you need to act immediately, and the payment method has to be one that can’t be reversed. Slowing down long enough to check for a few specific signals will catch nearly all of them.

Spoofed Calls, Emails, and AI-Generated Appeals

Scammers manipulate caller ID to look local or official, and they clone the logos, formatting, and language of well-known relief groups. The FBI warns that artificial intelligence has made these impersonations harder to spot, producing realistic emails, look-alike websites, and even deepfake video appeals featuring celebrities who never endorsed the cause.¹ Assume any unsolicited outreach could be fake until you’ve verified it through a separate channel you found yourself.

Pressure to Pay by Wire, Gift Card, or Crypto

The payment method a solicitor demands tells you almost everything. Legitimate charities accept credit cards and checks. Scammers push wire transfers, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or payment apps because those transactions are extremely difficult to reverse. Credit card payments carry a federal safety net: under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you have 60 days after the statement arrives to dispute an unauthorized or fraudulent charge, and your issuer must investigate before holding you responsible.² Anyone refusing a credit card and insisting on a gift card is almost certainly a scammer.

Names That Sound Like a Charity You’ve Heard Of

Fraudulent groups deliberately pick names one word off from established charities. Swapping “Foundation” for “Fund,” tweaking an acronym, or adding “American” or “National” is often enough to fool a donor who’s acting quickly. Verify the exact legal name and confirm it against the IRS database before giving.

A Telemarketer Who Dodges Basic Questions

Under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, anyone calling to solicit a charitable contribution must identify the charity by name and state the purpose of the call up front.³ If you ask, they must also disclose whether your contribution is tax-deductible and what share of the money actually reaches the charity versus the telemarketing firm. A caller who deflects, gets aggressive, or hangs up on those questions has told you what you need to know.

Where Fake Charities Show Up Most

Disaster Relief

Fake disaster charities appear within hours of a hurricane, wildfire, or mass-casualty event making the news. The websites carry emotional imagery and heartbreaking stories, but the group has no physical presence in the affected area, no delivery logistics, and no relief history. The FBI specifically warns donors to be suspicious of online communications from people who claim to be directly affected and are asking for immediate financial help.⁴

Veterans and Military Families

Scammers weaponize patriotism with pitches about housing, medical care, or job training for service members. Investigative reports have found professional fundraisers keeping 80 percent or more of donations collected for veterans’ groups. If a charity can’t tell you specifically what programs it funds or what share reaches veterans, treat that as a disqualifying answer.

Police and Firefighter Funds

Cold calls claiming to support local police or firefighters are a perennial favorite. The solicitor implies a departmental connection, sometimes hinting that donating will earn favorable treatment. Most legitimate first responder organizations don’t fundraise this way, and many of these funds operate without any authorization from the departments they invoke.

Crowdfunding and Social Media Appeals

GoFundMe pages, Facebook fundraisers, and viral appeals have become a major channel for charity fraud. Scammers impersonate disaster victims, celebrities, or influencers using stolen photos and fabricated stories. The FBI recommends reverse-searching images and verifying the identity of anyone behind a crowdfunding request before donating.¹ GoFundMe offers a donor protection guarantee covering donations of any amount, with a one-year window to file a claim if funds are misused.⁵ The guarantee only applies to donations made directly on GoFundMe’s platform, not through external links, and it won’t help if you’ve already initiated a chargeback with your bank. Most other crowdfunding sites and payment apps offer far less.

How to Verify a Charity Before You Give

Ask for the EIN and Full Legal Name

Every legitimate nonprofit has an Employer Identification Number, a nine-digit tax ID assigned by the IRS.⁶ Ask any solicitor for the EIN and the organization’s full legal name. If they can’t or won’t provide either, stop the conversation. A mismatch between the name on the solicitation and the name registered with the IRS is a clear warning.

Run the Name Through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search

The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search confirms whether a charity’s tax-exempt status is active, whether contributions are deductible, and whether the status has been revoked.⁷ You can search by name or EIN, and the tool links to the organization’s Form 990 filings. If a search returns nothing, or the group appears on the automatic revocation list for failing to file returns for three consecutive years, don’t donate.⁸

Read the Form 990

A charity’s Form 990 is an annual return filed with the IRS that shows where the money actually goes. Nonprofits with $50,000 or more in gross receipts must file one.⁹ The form breaks down program spending, fundraising costs, executive compensation, and total assets. Reputable charities generally direct at least 65 to 75 percent of spending to their stated mission. A refusal to share the Form 990 is reason enough to give elsewhere.

Check State Registration

Most states require charities to register with a state agency before soliciting residents.¹⁰ Your state Attorney General or Secretary of State usually maintains a searchable registry. A charity not registered in your state is either breaking the law or a fake. Independent evaluators like the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and CharityWatch also rate nonprofits on governance and financial efficiency if you want a second opinion.

Tax Rules That Depend on the Charity Being Real

Only 501(c)(3) Donations Are Deductible

Only contributions to organizations with 501(c)(3) status are tax-deductible for the donor.¹¹ Some scammers exploit confusion here by operating under a different exempt category, such as 501(c)(4) social welfare groups, where the organization is tax-exempt but your donation isn’t deductible. Confirm 501(c)(3) status through the IRS database before assuming you can write the gift off.

Receipts You’ll Need

For any cash donation, keep a bank record or written receipt showing the organization’s name, the amount, and the date. For donations of $250 or more, the IRS requires a written acknowledgment from the charity stating the amount, describing anything you received in return, and providing a good-faith estimate of its value.¹² A fake charity won’t produce documentation that survives IRS scrutiny.

Theft Loss Deduction Returns in 2026

There’s a meaningful tax change coming for scam victims. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended most personal theft loss deductions from 2018 through 2025, limiting them to federally declared disasters. That restriction expires at the end of 2025.¹³ Starting in 2026, if you lost money to a fraudulent charity you may be able to claim a theft loss as an itemized deduction, provided three conditions are met: the loss qualifies as theft under your state’s criminal law, you have no reasonable prospect of recovering the funds, and the transaction was entered into for profit.¹⁴ The profit requirement is the tricky part. A pure charitable gift may not qualify, but if you were told you were making an investment or protecting assets, the deduction is more likely to hold. Claim the loss in the year you discover the scam, not the year the money left your account.

If You’ve Already Donated to a Fake Charity

Stop Contact and Save Everything

Cut off communication with the scammer. Save every email, text, voicemail, and receipt, and screenshot any social media posts or websites before they vanish. This documentation becomes essential for bank disputes, law enforcement reports, and any tax deduction later.

Call Your Card Issuer or Bank

If you paid by credit card, you’re in the best position. Federal law gives you 60 days after receiving the statement to file a billing error dispute, and the issuer must investigate.² Debit card fraud can also be reversed, though the process is slower and your liability depends on how quickly you report it. Payment app transfers through Venmo, Zelle, and similar services are usually treated as authorized transactions even when you were tricked, so recovery is unlikely. Wire transfers and gift cards are almost always gone.

Freeze Your Credit and Change Passwords

Fake charity operations often harvest personal information alongside payments, including Social Security numbers, logins, and security question answers, which they use for identity theft or sell to other criminals.¹⁵ If you gave up anything beyond payment details, freeze your credit with all three bureaus, change passwords on any account that shared credentials, and watch your bank statements for the next several months.

File Reports

Start with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, where your complaint enters a national database used by thousands of law enforcement agencies.¹⁶ If the scam involved internet communications, also file with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.¹⁷ Include dates, amounts, payment methods, and copies of communications. Your state Attorney General can issue public warnings and pursue civil action against fraudulent solicitors.

Federal Penalties for Running a Fake Charity

Fraudulent solicitations that use the mail trigger prosecution under the mail fraud statute, which carries up to 20 years in prison.¹⁸ Scams run over the internet, phone, or any electronic channel fall under the wire fraud statute, with the same 20-year maximum.¹⁹

When the fraud involves a presidentially declared disaster or emergency, both statutes increase the maximum to 30 years and fines up to $1,000,000.¹⁸ Even without that enhancement, an individual convicted of a federal felony faces fines up to $250,000, and courts can impose an alternative fine of up to twice the gross gain from the scheme or twice the victim’s total loss, whichever is greater.²⁰

1
Internet Crime Complaint Center. Beware of Charitable Fraud Related to Mass Casualty and Disaster Events
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1026.13 Billing Error Resolution
3
Federal Trade Commission. Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule
4
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Beware of Charitable Fraud Related to Mass Casualty and Disaster Events
5
GoFundMe. The GoFundMe Guarantee
6
Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
7
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Exempt Organization Search
8
Internal Revenue Service. Automatic Revocation of Exemption
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Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organization Annual Filing Requirements Overview
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Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Solicitation – State Requirements
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Internal Revenue Service. Exemption Requirements – 501(c)(3) Organizations
12
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 506, Charitable Contributions
13
Congress.gov. Expiring Provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
14
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Chief Counsel Advice on Theft Loss Deductions for Scam Victims
15
Federal Trade Commission. How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams
16
Federal Trade Commission. Report Fraud
17
Internet Crime Complaint Center. Internet Crime Complaint Center
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1341 – Frauds and Swindles
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1343 – Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television
20
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine