When a hurricane hits, a wildfire breaks out, or a flood makes the news, scammers are ready within hours. They spin up convincing charity websites and donation campaigns — and today, AI tools make fake appeals look every bit as polished as the real thing. AARP and consumer-protection agencies consistently warn that charity fraud spikes after every major disaster.
The good news: two quick checks will protect your money and make sure your generosity actually reaches people who need it.
Step 1: Look the charity up in an official registry
Before you give, search for the organization on Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org, free) or the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search — also called IRS TEOS — at irs.gov/charities-non-profits. Both are free. If the charity isn't listed, that's a serious red flag. Legitimate organizations are registered, and the registries show how they spend donations.
Step 2: Paste the appeal into ChatGPT and ask for a second opinion
If you received an email, social media post, or website text asking for a donation, copy it and paste it into ChatGPT or any AI chatbot. Try a prompt like this:
"Here is a donation appeal I received. What red flags do you see? Does this charity appear in official registries?"
The AI will flag pressure tactics, vague language about where the money goes, unusual payment requests, and names that sound like well-known charities but aren't quite right.
The red flags to know
Watch out for these warning signs, with or without AI help:
- Pressure to donate right now before an offer expires
- Requests for payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency — legitimate charities don't ask for these
- An organization name nearly identical to a famous charity (for example, "American Red Cross Relief Fund" instead of "American Red Cross")
- Donation links arriving in unsolicited texts, emails, or social media messages
How to pay safely
If the charity checks out, go directly to the charity's official website — type the address yourself rather than clicking a link. Pay by credit or debit card on the official site. Never follow a payment link from an unsolicited message, even if it looks genuine.
The same pattern of manufactured urgency that charity scammers use shows up in phishing emails too — our guide to spotting AI phishing emails walks through how to recognize it.
One important caveat
AI is a useful first filter — it can spot the language patterns and pressure tactics that real charities don't use. But it cannot confirm that an organization is actually legitimate. Only the official registries can do that. Use AI to flag what looks suspicious, then use Charity Navigator or IRS TEOS to verify. When you're unsure whether a specific claim is true, the same fact-checking approach from spotting AI-generated misinformation applies here too.
Two minutes of checking is a small price for knowing your donation actually helps.