Fraudulent Charity Website: An Example.

With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increasing ease of website development there is a growing number of scams trying to access your money. You can view Australian scam statistics and get further informed at ScamWatch.

We received a request from a User of Giving Guide asking to verify if a charity was registered in Australia. This User was sent a website link by an acquaintance, fortunately they picked up on some red flags, which prompted the enquiry.

The site will remain anonymous to further limit promotion. It’s a good example of what you may consider when determining the validity of a website that may look suspicious or unauthentic.

Please take a moment to examine any unfamiliar websites asking for money as not all examples are as obvious as the one highlighted in this article. Please take your time, don’t buy or donate in a rush and read our other article 10 things to check before donating to a charity.

The Australian Charites and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) has recently posted an article informing donors to take care when deciding where and how to donate. ANZ Bank has also put an article together further informing the issue.

We investigated the website in question for red flags. We found many things to consider. They are not in order of importance or is it an exhaustive list:

• This charity is not listed on our website. For good measure we also searched the ACNC website which confirmed it is not an Australian charity.

• There was no ABN (Australian Business Number) listed on the website.

• The phone numbers did not match (not in the same country). Possibly from the southwestern quadrant of Missouri in the United States (417) or Georgia, the country, not the US state (995).

• The address is in Victoria, Australia (hence the enquiry), which seemed to be an online e-commerce content provider.

• Every volunteer had the last name ‘Smith’.

• They left some “Lorem Ipsum” placeholder text (text used in graphic, print and web layouts) in the messaging.

• Every appeal has donation totals ending with ‘000.

• It claimed to be the biggest organisation “In This Globe”.

• Four appeals have all equally raised $45,000 out of a goal of $70,000 (64.2%). The “Sponsor a Child” appeal has reached 65% of its goal, the “feed the Children” appeal has reached 70%, “donate today” has reached 77% and “save the children” has reached 85%.

• There is poor grammar, spelling, and attention to detail.

• The mission statement is vague.

• There is no ‘Registered Charity’ Seal. An Australian registered charity would likely have the seal on their website. Pictured below.

Although some of the red flags in this article could come across as humorous, it is a serious matter, every dollar that goes to a fraudulent entity reinforces the practice and is not received by the genuine causes needing support. It is up to us to be vigilant.

It is possible, this is the least attentive, well meaning, legitimate, not-for-profit organisation seeking donations, but if their website is representative of their work, would they be doing it well?

To informed giving,

Guide