Charity scams: are you donating to a scammer?

The Fundraising Regulator, Charity Commission for England and Wales and Action Fraud have come together to warn the public about charity scams.

There were 501 cases of charity fraud reported to Action Fraud between 1 November 2022 and 31 October 2023, totaling £2.7m.

Which? has previously warned about social media accounts claiming to be fundraising on behalf of victims of natural disasters. Although most fundraising appeals are genuine, there are ways to verify a charitable cause before you donate.

If you’re interested in safely donating to good causes this festive season, read our tips below.

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What is charity fraud?

Charity fraud is when scammers impersonate well-known charities or pretend to be fundraising for a charitable cause.

They do this by creating fake websites, sending phishing emails or making social media accounts which all ask for money.

According to the Charitable Aid Foundation, 71% of people in the UK regularly donate money to charitable causes.

Avoiding charity fraud

Some steps that you can take to verify a genuine cause and avoid charity fraud include:

• Checking the charity’s name and registration number on the Charity Register – charities with an annual income of £5,000 or more must be registered.
• Checking that the charity is signed up to the Fundraising Regulator’s Directory, which lists charities that have committed to good fundraising practices. Registered charities also have a Fundraising Badge.
• Checking that the sender email addresses matches with those listed on the official charity website.
• Making sure that in person fundraisers have a licence from the relevant Local Authority Licensing team, some licences are issued by the police. 
• Asking the charity or fundraiser for more information about their work.
• Searching for information about where donations go, as genuine charities will state this.
• Avoiding accounts or pages on social media which claim to be fundraising but have little information about how.
• Avoiding donation requests via a bank transfer or a money transfer service.

Reporting charity fraud

You can forward scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk to report them and report malicious websites to the National Cyber Security Centre.

You can report scam Facebook accounts by selecting the three dots on the right and pressing ‘report’. To report TikTok videos, press and hold the video and select ‘report’. You can report scam accounts on the platform by selecting the arrow in the top right hand corner and clicking ‘report’.

To report a dodgy Twitter account, click on the three dots above its bio and select ‘report.’ On Instagram, select the three dots in the top right of the post or the account page and press ‘report’.

If you have been the victim of a charity scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.