Thank you so much for your kind donation! But then again, how legitimate is the charity you have just deposited part of your hard-earned cash? Has it gone to the programs you care about?
Or, some guy chilling somewhere is ripping you off at the comfort of your home. Have you heard about online scammers that swindle not just money but also steal personal information?
Perhaps you have but never been a victim. Believe me…that thing is painful. I lost 7K(ksh) not to fraud charity but a scam currency exchanger, men I felt that. Point is, the internet can be a harsh place, and it is easy to get scammed from various online schemes.
Like genuine charities, scammers and pandemic profiteers will reach you via telemarketing, direct mail, email and other approved channels – marinate you well and hope to swallow you whole.
With a few precautions and tips, you can help ensure your generous donation gets to causes and organizations that genuinely serve others, and not self-interests. Initiatives with people’s interests at heart.
Four Steps to Safe, Responsible & Charitable Giving
So, you’ve come across a heart-wrenching message on social media or in your inbox from unsolicited email and it has compelled you into making a donation. To avoid donating to scammers, these (4) things will help you verify a charity, its programs and ensure your support go to serve the intended purpose.
1. Verify Charity’s Name
Organization’s name can tell a lot about its true intention. Fraudulent telemarketers often use names mimicking well-known & trusted charities to trick donors.
You’ll want to confirm that the name a charity, community-based organization, NGO or any other institution soliciting donations is using isn’t meat to confuse you. Do a simple search on the Web and verify the name.
2. Verify Charity’s Website
Take your time and go through the charity’s website and online platforms. They way scammers fake organization names to fool donors, is same way they use website names familiar to legitimate charities to fool donors.
For example, when catastrophe hits a place, even before the government and authorities go to help, scammers create fake donation websites with keywords related to the disaster in an effort to steal money and personal information. So, how can you determine if a website if fake? First, check the web address (also known as URL). For non-profits and most charitable organizations, they’ll have web address ending with .org and not .com. Be suspicious of URLs that have series of number.
Also, be skeptical of sites that ask for detailed personal information such as phone number, home address, SSN, birthday or bank account info. Sharing such information give scammers’ opportunity to steal and manipulate your identity.
There are sites that can help you check and verify charities. Do a web search to find out if the fundraising organizations is registered with your state’s charity bureau.
By just going through the website, you can easily spot red flags and avoid donating to fraudsters. A trusted charitable organization’s website will have clear details about its programs; mission and how they plan to use donations. Be suspicious of inconsistency.
3. Verify the Charity’s Tax-deductible Eligibility
Look up the charity you want to contribute to in the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search to know if donations are tax deductible. If the charity is listed, then it has been registered with the IRS and verified as a trusted organization fundraising for its programs. One you can trust.
4. Verify Donation Campaign
The internet and especially social media is filled with charitable donation requests. But knowing which one to give to can be a daunting task considering the thin line between genuine and fake charity scams.
If someone post the request on social media, friend or not, make sure to follow up with them privately or offline to verify if it’s a legitimate campaign. Are you donating towards a crowdfunding campaign? If so, how certain are you that the crowd fundraiser will pass the donations to its rightful cause.
How viable is the campaign? Some fundraising campaigns are costly that it can leave the charity will little money for administration purposes. So, before donating to a charity get to know how much goes into supporting programs you are passionate about, and how much is actually being used to run the organization – in terms salaries and other recurrent expenditure.
Charity scammers establish convincing online presence, social media platforms and well-designed websites to create a perception of the real organization. Some operate entirely outside the law to scam people of their donations, while some are fully registered charitable organizations but allocate part of the funds raised to programs they have bias on.
These tips will get you out of the victim list and ensure your generous donations support legitimate causes.