Giving money to others can give satisfaction to the donors. They may feel that many people are aided by their money and it is being spent for a good cause. On the other hand, there are many scams or frauds with the same. In such cases, one cannot claim that their money is reaching the right destination. For eg. In Hyderabad, a girl was scammed by a group of three people including a Nigerian on spiritual matters through social media and they took 6.52 lakhs for charity work in India, but were later caught by the police.
Charity Fraud
Charity fraud is an act of using fraudulent ways to ask people to donate money for charitable work, charitable trust, organizations, etc. Such people claim that they are part of an imaginary charitable trust asking people to donate to a non-existent charity. The money that is donated is generally used for other activities in favour of those people.
Signs of Charity scams
Refusal to provide charity details: The people who commit such scams refuse to provide any relevant details such as any information about the organization, amount of money used, its headquarters, its tax-exempt number, etc.
A pressurized ask: A lot of scammers make you donate through a pressurized asking so that they can claim the money more easily. But reputed organizations make you understand their trust and aims while also providing enough time to decide.
Alternate payment methods: Providing money in cash, gift cards, or through any applications that they provide should be avoided as this will ensure that you won’t get that money back once paid.
Registration on the accountable website: There are sites on which charity trusts can be registered to prove their accountability. As a genuine trust tries to protect its consumers by registering itself on the same, a fraudulent one would generally not be found registered on any such websites.
Types of Charity Fraud
Charity fraud can be divided into two types; internal and external
Internal:
These types of scams occur within organizations. The people working for the organization can fraudulently handle the money, steal it or perform any such related activities. The officials can abuse their power by manipulating the money and making false expenses. These kinds of activities lead to poor financial policies.
External:
Fraudulent activities that take place outside the organization can be included in external frauds. These include funding for false incidents and cyber-crimes such as sending emails, hacking, etc.
Steps to prevent Charity fraud
There are many ways in which people can prevent charity scams by themselves some of which are:
Donating to established, certified organizations which you trust the most or adore their work. Beware of scams where a fraud institution is introduced in the name of a reputed organization. At present charity, fraud is going on in the name of COVID. Money should be given only after proper research. Proper research about the organization is important before giving out your precious money. Every proper organization is registered under certain government-oriented corporations. Always try to donate through cheque or credit card as most scammers collect money in cash, gift card, etc. so as to prevent any proof. There can be requests for donations sent through mails or other platforms, avoid clicking on any links provided with such emails as they may lead to giving out your private information to the wrong hands.
Conclusion
Charity monitoring organizations are there to eradicate the charity scams that are present in society. They provide information about these scams to the people and make them aware of the same.
A crucial role is played by charitable trusts in the social structure. Despite all these precautions the general public is mending to fall into such scams because of their generous nature and also the scammers trying to be more and more promising every day.
By Siddharth Krishnan
Content Writer
Social Journal
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