Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on fraudsters who raise money as charity: cloned volunteer pages, stolen photos and how to check an appeal

Fake charity appeals

English version for the United States.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on how a fraudster raises money under the cover of charity. A cloned volunteer page, someone else's photos of a sick child or a disaster, a one day charity website and an urgent request to pay right now add up to one scheme in which a person wants to help and the money reaches a fraudster. In 2024 the FBI received more than 4,500 complaints about fake charities, crowdfunding and disaster appeals, with about 96 million dollars in losses. This guide explains how to check an appeal in five minutes, how US registration and tax rules help and where to report a fake one.

Reference / Blog

Published: October 1, 2026 · 12 min read · Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov

01Why fake charity appeals work

A charity appeal asks for one thing: help, and quickly. A person sees a photo, a short story and a payment link, and that urgency is exactly what makes the scheme profitable for a fraudster. Nobody checks bank details when the money is for a child's treatment, an evacuation or a rescued animal, because every minute seems to count.

The second reason is trust. An appeal rarely comes from a stranger. A friend forwards it, a volunteer the person has followed for years posts it, or a favorite creator shares it. The fraudster borrows trust from someone people already believe and swaps in their own payment details.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov explains how fake appeals are built, which signs give them away before the money is sent and what to do if it has already gone to a fraudster. A separate part covers volunteers and charities whose names and photos are used for such appeals.

02A cloned volunteer page

The most common scheme is a copy of a real page. The fraudster creates an account with almost the same name, adding a letter or a dot, copies the profile picture, the description and a dozen recent posts. The clone then writes to the original's followers on behalf of the volunteer or comments under the volunteer's posts with a link to the fake appeal.

A clone can be spotted by a few details. It has few followers and a very fresh history, its posts appeared within a day or two, and the payment details differ from those in the original posts. A genuine volunteer usually runs one main appeal and describes it the same way on every platform.

The most reliable check takes a minute: find the volunteer's page yourself through a search and see whether that page is running this appeal and which payment details it shows. A link from a message is not a safe way in. If a person who never wrote first suddenly sends you a private message asking for money, that alone is a reason to stop.

03Someone else's photos and someone else's story

The second type of appeal is built on someone else's grief. Fraudsters take a photo of a sick child, an injured person or an animal from a real appeal that closed long ago, add an invented story and new payment details. Sometimes the photos come from another country, sometimes from news reports, and the diagnosis and the sum are chosen to look convincing.

Such appeals can be checked with a reverse image search. If the same photo appears in posts from several years ago, under another name or in another town, the appeal is fake. Genuine appeals for treatment usually name the hospital, the doctor or the charity, which can be contacted independently.

Another sign is reporting. A conscientious fundraiser shows how much has been raised, how much has been spent and on what, and publishes receipts or photos of what was bought. A fake appeal has no reports. The sum it supposedly still needs stays the same day after day, however many people pay.

04Fake charities and one day websites

The third type looks more solid. Fraudsters register a website with a name similar to a well known charity, or invent a charity with an impressive name, a logo and a donate button. The payment form on such a site asks for the card number, expiry date and the code on the back, which are then used to pay for other things without the owner.

A real charity is a legal entity with a registration number, an address, named trustees or directors and reports that can be found in public registers. A website with no number, no address and no responsible person, which accepts donations only through a form asking for card details, should not be treated as a charity, however polished it looks.

Check the domain as well. A site created a few days ago, with an address that differs from the real one by a single letter, reached through a link in a message, is classic phishing dressed up as charity.

05Appeals after disasters and news events

Every major news story produces a wave of appeals. After an attack, a fire, a flood or a story that goes viral, dozens of pages raising money for victims appear within hours. Some are real. Others were created by whoever registered an account with the right name first.

On such days fraudsters bet on emotion and haste. Messages are written in capital letters, demand a transfer right now and ask to be shared further. The more people repost an appeal, the more convincing it looks to the next reader, although none of them checked the payment details.

It is wiser to wait a few hours and give where help for victims is organized officially: local authorities, established charities with a track record and reports, government platforms. The real need will still be there in a few hours, and fake pages are often blocked within that time.

06What US cases and figures show

Fake appeals in the United States range from single crowdfunding pages to organizations that raise millions. In September 2025 the FTC and 19 states acted against Kars-R-Us, which raised more than 45 million dollars in the name of a breast cancer charity and, according to the complaint, spent 126,815 dollars, or 0.28 percent, on screenings. In March 2024 the FTC and 10 states sued the operator of Women's Cancer Fund, which collected 18 million dollars between 2017 and 2022 and spent 194,809 dollars on support for cancer patients.

The FBI sees the same pattern after disasters. In 2024 its Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 4,500 complaints reporting about 96 million dollars in losses to fraudulent charities, crowdfunding accounts and disaster relief campaigns. In its report for 2025 the charity category alone produced 662 complaints and 7,907,609 dollars in losses.

The IRS put fake charities on its Dirty Dozen list of tax scams for 2026 and warns that fraudsters exploit tragedies and disasters to collect both donations and personal information.

07How to check an appeal in five minutes

The first step concerns the source. Open the volunteer's or charity's page yourself, through a search or the official website, and find the appeal there. A link in a message, a comment or an advert proves nothing, even if a friend sent it: their account may have been hacked.

The second step concerns the recipient. The name on the card or account should match the volunteer's name or the charity's name. If a charity runs the appeal but the money is requested to a private person's card without explanation, that is a warning sign. A registered charity can be found by its number in the official register of your country.

The third step concerns history. A genuine fundraiser has earlier appeals, reports, photos of what was bought and reactions from people who received help. A new page with no history, no reports and comments switched off needs far more checking than five minutes allow.

The fourth step is the simplest. If the fundraiser is someone you know, message or call them through a different channel from the one the appeal came through. One short question, are you really raising money for this, stops most schemes that rely on hacked accounts.

08How to check a charity or an appeal in the US

A donation is tax deductible only when it goes to an organization recognized by the IRS, and that status can be checked in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. Most states also require charities and their fundraisers to register with a state regulator, and the list of regulators is kept by the National Association of State Charity Officials.

Crowdfunding works differently. The FTC reminds donors that the money goes to the person who set up the campaign, that donations to individuals are not tax deductible and that photos on a campaign page are worth a reverse image search, because scammers copy other people's photos and stories.

The way an appeal asks for money is also a test. The FTC says that if a charity accepts payment only in cryptocurrency, by wire transfer through Western Union or MoneyGram, through a payment app or with a gift card, it is likely a scam. A credit card or a check made out to the organization leaves a record and more protection.

09How to give safely

Safe giving starts with payment details you found yourself. The charity's official website, an organization's account with its registration number, a government fundraising platform or a volunteer page checked through its history all carry much less risk than a card number from a forwarded message.

Card details belong only in well known payment services. A form on an unfamiliar site that asks for the expiry date and the code on the back of the card for a donation should raise a flag. A transfer to a card number needs nothing from you except the amount, and any request to share a code from a text message means fraud.

Keep receipts. They will be needed if an appeal turns out to be fake, and they help you see whom you have already helped and how much. Regular donations are better set up once with a verified organization than made anew for every appeal in the feed.

10If the money has already gone to a fraudster

As soon as you realize an appeal was fake, call your bank on the number printed on your card and report a fraudulent payment. Give the recipient's details, the amount and the time. The bank may try to stop the money if it has not yet been moved on, and it will record the details, which helps the next people.

Then report the page or account on the platform where you saw the appeal and save screenshots: the post, the profile, the payment details and the messages. Without these materials it is hard for the police and the bank to link the payment to a specific scheme.

Tell your friends if the appeal came from them or if you shared it. A short post saying that the appeal is fake stops further payments faster than blocking the page, which sometimes takes days.

11When your name or your appeal is used

Volunteers and charities should expect to be copied. One rule, repeated in every post, helps a great deal: our payment details are published only here, and we never write first in private messages. Followers remember such a warning when a clone contacts them.

When a clone is found, collect evidence: the page address, screenshots of the profile, the messages it sent and the payment details it asked for. Report it to the platform as impersonation, warn your audience in a separate post and pass the details to the bank whose card the fraudster is using.

What is at stake is the name itself. The name of a trusted person or organization is as much a resource for a fraudster as a card number. The more open a fundraiser's reporting and the more consistently it publishes payment details in one place, the harder its name is to misuse.

12Where to report in the US

Report a fake appeal to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the charity regulator or attorney general of your state. If the appeal ran on a crowdfunding site, report it to the platform first, because the platform can freeze the campaign and the payout.

Losses through online appeals can also be reported to the FBI at ic3.gov. Call your bank or card issuer at once about any payment that may still be stopped, and keep the campaign page, the messages and the receipt as evidence.

13Questions and answers

How can I tell a cloned volunteer page from the real one?

Find the volunteer's page yourself through a search and compare the address, followers, post history and payment details. A clone is usually new, with a few fresh posts and different details.

Is it safe to enter card details to donate on a charity website?

Only on a well known payment service or the charity's verified site. A donation never requires sharing a code from a text message.

How do I check a charity in the US?

Look it up in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and with your state charity regulator, whose list is kept by the National Association of State Charity Officials.

Are donations to a crowdfunding campaign tax deductible?

Donations to individuals are not. The FTC also notes that the money goes to the person who organized the campaign.

Where do I report a fake charity appeal in the US?

Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, to your state charity regulator and, for online losses, to the FBI at ic3.gov.

Reference updated: 4 September 2026