Malte ZanderContents
Fake donation websites exploit people's willingness to help after disasters and the good name of well-known organizations. Scammers rebuild donation pages, launch campaigns with familiar-sounding names and ask for payment methods that cannot be reversed. Nonprofits protect their donors with a fixed donation address, monitoring before and during big campaigns, a reporting route and fast takedowns.
- According to the US Federal Trade Commission, scammers often create fake charities that sound and look legit or claim to work with well-known organizations (FTC).
- The FTC advises refusing to donate if someone insists that wires, gift cards, cryptocurrency, payment apps or cash are the only options (FTC).
- In Germany, 227 organizations hold the DZI donation seal, and donors can check organizations with and without the seal in the DZI database (DZI).
- Total donations in Germany reached EUR 12.8 billion in 2023, according to DZI and the economic institute DIW (DZI).
Why do donation pages get faked?
Because a lot of money flows and donors decide under time pressure. After a disaster, people want to help right away, look for a name they know and click the first matching link. Anyone exploiting that moment needs no elaborate deception, just a page that looks familiar.
There is also a difference from other fraud: someone who orders from a fake shop notices when the goods never arrive. Someone who donates expects no delivery. That is why a fake donation page is often only noticed when the real organization hears about it.
What scams are there?
Five scams keep coming up:
| Scam | What it looks like | Who gets hurt |
|---|---|---|
| Copied donation page | Your logo and campaign on someone else's domain, with someone else's account | Donors and your reputation |
| Copycat campaign | A new "relief organization" with a familiar-sounding name after a disaster | Donors and legitimate organizations |
| Fake crowdfunding | A campaign on a platform using your name or your images | Donors |
| Donation phishing | An email or text like "Your donation could not be processed" with a link to the copy | Donors and their payment details |
| Payment methods with no way back | Only gift cards, cryptocurrency, cash or payment apps | Donors |
The copied donation page hits you directly, because it carries your name and diverts money meant for your work into other accounts. From email to landing page shows how emails and pages work together in these cases.
How can donors recognize a fake?
By a few points you should communicate clearly:
The address: donate only through the domain listed on your well-known website, or through an address donors type in themselves.
The payment method: anyone who only accepts gift cards, cryptocurrency or cash is not legitimate.
The pressure: real organizations don't push people to decide within minutes.
The check: look the organization up with a charity watchdog or registry, such as the DZI database in Germany or the charity regulator in your country, and confirm any seal shown on a page there.
What should nonprofits do about a fake donation page?
Act fast, because every hour costs donations that should have reached you:
Capture evidence: screenshots of the donation page and payment step, any bank details listed, the full link, lure emails and posts. See Securing evidence of a fake website.
Frame the case: a copy of your page is brand forgery, and if it asks for card details it is phishing as well. See Takedown framing.
Report in parallel: host, registrar, DNS provider and Google Safe Browsing. How to take down a fake website shows the process.
Report to platforms and payment routes: crowdfunding platforms, social networks, ad platforms and the institutions holding any accounts listed.
Warn donors on your website, on social media and in your newsletter, with your official donation channels. How to warn customers about a fake website includes a template.
Keep the case open. After major events, several copies often appear one after another.
How do you prepare for the next big campaign?
With preparation that happens before the event, not after it:
A fixed donation address that never changes, such as donate.your-organization.org, and a list of your official donation accounts.
Register the obvious variants of your donation domain yourself, especially misspellings and add-ons like donate, help or relief.
Monitoring before and during campaigns, with your name and terms that fit the campaign.
A reporting route on the donation page where donors can report a suspicious link in one step.
Prepared warning texts for your website, social media and the press, so you can respond in minutes instead of hours.
One responsible person who reviews reports and triggers takedowns during big campaigns.
How does AI Fraud Protect help?
AI Fraud Protect finds lookalike domains, cloned donation pages and phishing that use your organization's name. On a schedule, the domain scanner checks variants of your domains, and through the report widget on your donation page donors report a suspicious link directly. The AI compares every finding with your real page and names what was copied. The evidence package is compiled automatically, the reports to host, registrar, DNS provider and Google go out in parallel after a person has reviewed them, and the case stays open until the page is offline.
Start the free fraud scan for a short report within 48 hours, or request a demo to see the report widget and takedowns in the app.
FAQ
Is running a fake donation page a crime?
Collecting money with a fake donation page is fraud in most countries, and depending on the case trademark and copyright infringement come on top. This is not legal advice.
Does a charity seal protect against fakes?
It helps donors recognize legitimate organizations. Germany's DZI seal, for example, was introduced in 1992 and is awarded after an extensive review (DZI). But the image of a seal can be copied. What matters is that donors look the organization up themselves with the body that awards the seal and donate through the website listed there.
Are small charities affected too?
Yes, especially around local events. Lesser-known names are checked less often, and a copy is noticed later. A simple reporting route and a clear donation address help especially here.
What do we do if a campaign using our images runs on a crowdfunding platform?
Report it to the platform with proof that the images and name belong to you, and warn your donors. Most platforms have their own reporting form for this.