Scammers impersonate charities after natural disasters and holidays. Learn to verify charities before donating.
Scammers impersonate well-known charities (Red Cross, Salvation Army, UNICEF) or create convincing fake charity names that sound similar to real organizations. They call requesting donations for disaster relief, children's hospitals, veterans, or law enforcement. The pitch is emotionally compelling and designed to bypass critical thinking.
Some operations use professional-sounding call centers with multiple agents, hold music, and transfer procedures that mimic legitimate phone donation campaigns. They may even send fake confirmation emails or tax receipts after you "donate."
Fake charity calls surge within 48 hours of major disasters — hurricanes, earthquakes, mass shootings — and during the holiday giving season (November-December). Scammers know that empathy and urgency peak during these periods, and legitimate donation calls are common, providing cover.
During Hurricane season 2025, charity scam complaints increased 500% within three days of major storms making landfall. Scammers even referenced specific affected towns and communities to make their appeals seem localized and legitimate.
Before donating by phone, verify the charity at Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org), GuideStar (guidestar.org), or the BBB Wise Giving Alliance (give.org). These databases confirm whether a charity is registered, how it spends donations, and whether it has any red flags.
Ask the caller for the charity's EIN (Employer Identification Number), mailing address, and website. Legitimate charities will provide this information readily. Then verify independently — don't use contact information provided by the caller.
Red flags: high-pressure tactics demanding you donate "right now," vague descriptions of how money will be used, cash-only or gift card requests (real charities accept credit cards and checks), refusing to provide written information about the charity, and names that sound similar to well-known charities but aren't quite right.
Also suspicious: thanking you for a previous donation you didn't make (a social engineering technique), claiming 100% of your donation goes to the cause (all charities have operating costs), or offering prizes or gifts in exchange for your donation.
Report fake charity calls to: the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, your state attorney general's charity registration division, the National Association of State Charity Officials (nasconet.org), and the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov for large-scale operations.
If you donated to a fake charity via credit card, dispute the charge with your card issuer. For check payments, contact your bank about stop payments. Report the incident even if you didn't lose money — your report helps authorities identify and shut down these operations.
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