Charity Scams: How to Make Sure Your Holiday Donation Goes to a Real Cause

By Chris Clark, founder of Senior Tech Cafe

Charity scams are fake or misleading appeals that send your donation to a fraudster instead of a real cause, and they show up in force after disasters and during the holiday giving season, when scammers know wallets are open. The habit that beats nearly all of them is simple: don’t give to whoever contacts you. Look the charity up yourself, then give through its own website or by check.

Here’s how it usually goes. You’re finally sitting down to a hot dinner. Naturally, the phone rings immediately, because the universe has a strict policy against uninterrupted meals. You answer, expecting a robotic voice warning you that your car’s extended warranty is about to expire.

Instead, it’s a polite, passionate young man calling on behalf of the “Orphaned Puppies of the Recent Devastating Hurricane Foundation.” He tells a heartbreaking story. You instinctively reach for your wallet, because you are a good person and you like puppies.

Stop right there. Put down the credit card and back away from the phone.

That “polite young man” may be a scammer, or a paid telemarketer for a group that keeps most of what it raises. With GivingTuesday on December 1 this year and year-end appeals running right up to December 31, now’s a good time to learn the difference.

How Fake Charity Scams Work

Fake charity scams run on emotion, not information. Criminals love a good tragedy. Whenever there’s a natural disaster, a major holiday, or a crisis in the news, fake charities pop up like weeds in a spring lawn. In August 2026, after floods and earthquakes overseas, the Federal Trade Commission put out yet another warning about fake disaster charities using official-sounding names.

The goal is a “high-arousal” emotional state. They want you feeling so sad, angry, or urgent that you skip the part where you check. Many use names that sound almost exactly like a big, well-known charity, so a quick listen on the phone fills in the rest.

These days, scammers change their tactics even faster than the headache of changing internet providers. Some now use AI to clone a voice from a short clip posted online, then call pretending to be a relative stranded somewhere and needing money sent fast. Our guide to AI voice scams covers how to test a call like that.

Scammers want you panicked. A legitimate charity, on the other hand, will gladly let you take your time, finish your pot roast, and mail them a check next week.

The Red Flag Checklist: 6 Signs of Charity Scams

Before you hand over your hard-earned cash, run the call, text or post through this quick checklist. If any of these flags wave, hang up or close the page.

• The high-pressure squeeze: They make you feel like if you don’t donate $50 this very second, a baby penguin will personally hold you responsible. Real charities don’t rush you.
• The payment red flag: If they ask for a gift card, a wire transfer (like Western Union or MoneyGram), cryptocurrency or a payment app, it’s almost certainly a scam. Real charities take credit cards and checks, which are also the safest ways to give.
• The sound-alike name: Some fake groups pick a name one or two words off from a big charity you’ve heard of, and on a crackly phone line it sounds just right. Write the name down and look it up before you give.
• The “spoofed” caller ID: Just because your phone screen says “Local Fire Department” doesn’t mean it’s true. Scammers easily fake caller ID to look official.
• The “thank you for your pledge” trick: They call to thank you for a donation you supposedly promised last year, hoping you’re too polite to admit you don’t remember it.
• The vague sob story: Lots of feeling, few facts. Ask exactly what your money pays for and what share reaches the cause. A real fundraiser can answer. A scammer changes the subject.

How to Check a Charity Before You Donate (or, How to Be a Charity Detective)

To tell if a charity is legitimate, look it up yourself in three places before you give: a charity watchdog, the IRS’s list of tax-exempt groups, and your state’s charity regulator. It takes about five minutes. You don’t need a magnifying glass or a deerstalker hat, just an internet browser.

Here’s where to look, in order:

1. A watchdog. Charity Navigator rates charities from zero to four stars. CharityWatch gives letter grades from A+ to F, but only to a few hundred of the largest charities. Give.org, run by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, says whether a charity meets its 20 standards. A small local charity may not be rated anywhere, so a missing rating isn’t proof of a scam. A bad one is a good reason to give elsewhere.
2. The IRS. If a group says your gift is tax-deductible, it should show up in the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search. Search by its legal name. Churches are the big exception: they don’t have to register, so a real church may not be listed.
3. Your state. Most states require charities and their paid fundraisers to register. Search “charity registration” plus your state, or find your regulator through the National Association of State Charity Officials at nasconet.org.

When you’re satisfied, give on the charity’s own website, typed in yourself, or mail a check. Don’t use the link or the phone number from the message that asked you.

Charity Fraud vs. Wasteful Charities: Knowing the Difference

Charity fraud takes your money outright: the charity doesn’t exist, or it never does what it claims. A wasteful charity is legal, but spends most of what it raises on fundraisers and overhead, leaving pennies for the cause. You want to avoid both, and they need slightly different radars.

Phone appeals for police, firefighters and veterans are a classic gray zone. In 2020 the FTC and four states sued a telemarketing operation that raised money for what they called sham charities; according to the complaint, up to 90 percent of the money went to the fundraisers. Some calls that sound like a charity are actually from a political action committee (PAC). PAC donations aren’t tax-deductible, and the money isn’t spent the way a charity’s would be. Ask the caller straight out: “Are you a charity or a PAC, and what share of my gift goes to the cause?”

On the flip side, some charities go out of their way to show you where the money goes. charity: water, for one, says 100 percent of public donations fund water projects, because a separate group of private donors pays its staff, rent and other overhead. Scammers and bad charities don’t offer that kind of openness.

New for 2026: A Tax Break Even If You Don’t Itemize

Starting with the 2026 tax year, you can deduct up to $1,000 in cash donations, or $2,000 if you’re married filing jointly, even if you take the standard deduction. Before this, most people who didn’t itemize got no tax break for giving at all.

A few rules decide whether a gift counts:

• It has to be cash, which includes checks and card payments. Donated clothes, stock or furniture don’t count toward this deduction.
• It has to go to a qualified charity. Gifts to individuals, crowdfunding pages for a person, PACs and donor-advised funds don’t qualify.
• You need a record: a bank or card statement, or a written receipt from the charity showing its name, the amount and the date.

Scammers will happily use this. Expect to hear “and it’s tax-deductible!” from groups that aren’t. The IRS search tool above settles it in a minute.

The Refusal Scripts: How to Hang up Without Feeling Guilty

But when you’re on the phone with a high-pressure caller, you need to employ the 10-Second Pause Rule.

• “I never make donation decisions over the phone. Please mail me your financial information.”
• “I already have a set list of charities I donate to annually, and my budget is closed. Goodbye.”
• “I need to verify your organization with Charity Navigator before I give. Have a good day.”

What to Do If You Gave Money to a Charity Scam

If you think you’ve fallen for one of the many donation scams going around, act fast, because the first day or two matters most. These scams are run by professionals, and they catch careful people every day.

Take these steps in order:

1. Call the company you paid with. For a credit or debit card, call the number on the back and dispute the charge. For a gift card, call the company that issued the card and ask for a refund. For a wire transfer, call Western Union, MoneyGram or your bank and ask them to reverse it. For a payment app, report it in the app and to the bank linked to it.
2. If you shared your bank details, follow our steps for protecting your bank account after a scammer has your information.
3. Report it to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov, and to your state charity regulator.

Reports help investigators connect cases and shut these operations down, so they’re worth filing even if your money doesn’t come back.

Questions About Charity Scams

Is It Safe to Donate Through Links on Social Media?

Not usually. Scammers set up fake fundraisers and copy real charities’ names and logos on social media, and a friend may share one without knowing. Skip the link. Look the charity up yourself, check it with a watchdog like Give.org or CharityWatch, then give on the charity’s own website or by check.

What If the Caller Knows My Address and Past Donations?

That proves nothing. Lists of past donors, along with names, addresses and phone numbers, are bought and sold, and some come from data breaches. A caller who knows details about you can still be a scammer or a paid fundraiser who keeps most of the money. Hang up and give directly if you want to give.

Can I Trust Crowdfunding Sites for Disaster Relief?

Crowdfunding works well for helping someone you actually know. For strangers, it’s harder to check, because anyone can start a page and tell a moving story. If you don’t personally know the organizer or the family, give to an established relief charity you’ve checked instead. It’s less personal, and much less risky.

Can a Charity Call Me If I’m on the Do Not Call List?

Yes. The National Do Not Call Registry doesn’t cover calls asking for charitable donations, so those calls are legal even if you signed up. You can ask any charity caller to put you on its own do-not-call list, and it has to honor that. The caller is usually a paid fundraiser, not the charity.

Give Generously, but Give on Your Own Terms

The safest donation is the one you planned. Pick two or three charities you’ve checked, give on their own websites or by check, and politely decline everything that arrives by phone, text or social media post. That’s not stinginess. That’s making sure the puppies actually get the money.

Charity scams are one corner of a bigger picture. For the rest of the checklist, start with our online safety guide for seniors, and if the ask arrives as an email or text, here’s how to spot phishing scams.