BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Many charities are hoping folks will donate during this season of giving, however criminals are looking to capitalize off people’s generosity.
There were almost 10,000 reports of charitable solicitation fraud in the United States in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Data shows donors lost $22.5 million.
Laura McLester, an assistant professor and program coordinator with the UAB Digital Forensics Program, says donors can watch for typos in website addresses.
“Double check those spellings,” McLester said. “Just an extra ‘I’ or whatever extra letter. They can substitute a number for a character. We’ve even seen things as nefarious as substituting other language character letters for English letters. Theres some Cyrillic letters that look like English letters, so just kind of double check all of that.”
The UAB expert also recommends people use verification websites to confirm if charities are legitimate.
Some websites that grade charities include Charity Navigator and GuideStar.
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