Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash
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Tropical Storm Bertha’s arrival, along with more of Mother Nature’s outbursts across the rest of the United States have disrupted, or worse, the lives of millions. If you want to help those dealing with a disaster, make sure you give to legitimate organizations and not to scammers looking to cash in on other’s misfortunes.
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Residents of the western United States are confronting wildfires. Those from the Northeast to the Midwest to Central Texas are dealing with heavy rain and resulting deadly and still dangerous flooding.
Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall in Louisiana this afternoon. The storm is expected to continue her westward trek toward Texas.
Local communities are doing all they can to help neighbors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also is providing assistance to those whose areas have been declared official disaster areas.
But additional support is always welcome. If you want to help, your best move is to contribute to reputable nonprofits that have the organizational capabilities to meet each area’s unique needs.
The key is to make sure you give to a legitimate charity. This is not just important from a tax standpoint if you want to claim your gift as a tax deduction. It’s also critical to ensure that your help goes to those who need it.
Unfortunately, while the worst of times does bring out the best in people lots of times, that’s not the universal case. Some folks are simply despicable. They use tragic circumstances as the basis for their scams.
Don’t fall prey to these skeevy con artists.
Read on for disaster scam red flags. When you see one or more of them, take the suggested seven steps to sidestep the faux philanthropy trap.
Old schemes refined for disastrous situations: Disaster-related scammers use the same methods that crooks employ in non-disastrous times.
They reach out by phone, mail, email, and text with ploys to tug at your heart and then steal your money and personal information.
You would think by now, with all the disasters we face every year, we’d all be wise to the tricks. But the frequency of natural catastrophes across the entire country actually can work in the crooks’ favor.
The disasters that strike across the country year-round give criminals plenty of opportunities to try out and refine their schemes.
The following seven tips can help you counter old and new disaster-related scams.
1. Don’t immediately donate. Yes, time is of the essence in getting help to those in need. So well-meaning individuals want to help as quickly as possible. But don’t be in too much of a hurry.
Acting on the first donation options you see could send your money to crooks, rather than to those in need.
Also remember that the needs created by disasters will continue long after the event. So, giving later still can help. A lot. Legitimate charities are happy to get donations at any time.
And taking your time will let you follow the next scam-avoidance tip.
2. Check out the charities. The Internal Revenue Service can help donors do charity research. The agency’s online Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool will let you know whether the group soliciting your help has met federal tax law requirements to be registered as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
The TEOS tool can help you —
- Verify the legitimacy of a charity,
- Check its eligibility to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions, and
- Search for information about an organization’s tax exempt status and filings.
The IRS authorization cited in the second bullet point above is required if you plan to claim your gift as a tax deduction. Private groups also vet charities. They include Charity Navigator; Candid, which is the combined effort of GuideStar and Foundation Center; the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance; and Charity Watch.
I know. Most who give do so because they want to help. But if your goodwill can save you some tax dollars, then let the IRS reward you, too.
Thanks to tax law changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), taxpayers who claim the standard deduction can once again get a charitable donation tax break. The tax advantage also is still around for those who itemize. Get details in my post on how the new tax law gives and takes from charitable donors.
Even if you don’t want the tax benefit, it is still important to know that the group you want to support will do the good work it claims and get your donation to those who need it.
3. Pay attention to the purported charity’s name. Verification of a charity by the IRS.gov tool or private charity oversight groups can help weed out look-alike cons. Scammers frequently use names that sound like well-known charities to confuse people.
Fake charity promoters may use emails, fake websites, or alter or spoof their caller ID to make it look like a real charity is calling to solicit donations.
Potential donors should ask the fundraiser for the charity’s name, website, and mailing address so they can independently confirm the information.
4. Note how donations are sought. The ways a fake charity asks for your money can be a big warning sign. The IRS warns to never work with charities that ask for donations by giving numbers from a gift card or by wiring money. That’s a scam.
The safest way to donate to any philanthropic groups is by credit card or check. Again, after you confirm the charity is real.
Personally, I have one credit card I use for donations. It has a low credit limit so if it is compromised, the crooks can’t use it to do much damage. And since it’s a credit card, I can report the misuse and not be responsible for fraudulent charges.
5. Don’t overshare. Crooks operating a charity scam often try to ingratiate themselves. It’s a way to make the scam mark feel more comfortable giving.
But it’s also usually an attempt to get even more of your personal and financial information. With that, they can steal more than just your one time charitable gift to disaster victims.
Never disclose Social Security numbers or personal or bank identification numbers. No charity needs that.
And only give out your credit card number after you’re sure the charity is legitimate.
6. Be cautious of crowdfunding. With the growth of social media, crowdfunding has become a popular way to raise money for good causes. Even some government agencies use this option.
But the distant, online nature of crowdfunding makes it easy for crooks to steal your money using the guise of a good cause.
And in most instances, crowdfunded groups are not registered charities. Even if the money does go to those in need, your gift won’t be tax deductible.
7. Report the fraud or fraud attempt. If a con artist catches you in a moment of weakness, don’t beat yourself up. But do report the scam. And do so even if you don’t fall for the charitable (or other) hook. That will help officials alert others, and investigate the scam.
Report scams to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Find your state charity regulator at the National Association of State Charity Officials, or nasconet.org, and report it to them, too. Share any information you have, such as the name of the organization or fundraiser, phone number, and what the fake fundraiser said.
Report the fraud to federal officials, too, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). That law enforcement agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center accepts reports of online scams and fraud.
Again, thanks for thinking of others and wanting to help them through a terrible time. But protect yourself, too.
Fire and Rain: Long-time readers of the ol’ blog know that almost everything, tax and beyond, brings a song to my mind. That’s the case with the recent spate of disasters across the United States.
Back in 1970, James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” was one of my favorite songs. It still is, as it’s come with from vinyl to cassette to CD and now in a digital version.
The musical motivation for Taylor’s lyrics were deeply personal to the singer-songwriter. And though I hadn’t yet experienced great tragedy, the song struck a chord with the much younger me.
Now, 56 years later, the song’s emotional recollections came to me as I was reading about the millions of Americans facing disastrous conditions. I know some of them are, as Taylor sings, searching for the strength to see themselves and their families through another day.
I hope they find it, along with some of the hope Taylor sings about in his final verse about “walking my mind to an easy time.” May we all get to those easy, easier times.
You also might find these items of interest:
- IRS launches new consolidated tax fraud web page
- 5 ways to determine whether a charity is naughty or nice
- 2026’s Dirty Dozen tax scam list is familiar because too many are still falling for the schemes
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