How to Report a Fake Charity Collecting for the Holidays

To report a holiday charity solicitation you believe is fake, file two reports: one with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and one with your state's charity regulator. The FTC's August 2026 donation alert is explicit that both reports matter, and it points donors to nasconet.org to find the right state office. If you sent money through a link, a social post, or an email appeal, add a third report at ic3.gov.

Each agency does something different with what you send. The FTC builds the national pattern, the state office enforces registration law where the solicitation happened, and the FBI's internet crime center handles the money trail on online payments. Filing all three takes about twenty minutes if you gather the details first.

Verification note: Program terms and availability can change. This page was checked against linked sources on November 13, 2026.

The two reports the FTC asks for

The FTC's consumer alert on donating tells readers to report a fake or suspected fake charity to the FTC and to their state charity regulator — two filings, not one. The federal complaint goes to ReportFraud.ftc.gov, a plain web form that asks what happened, who contacted you, and what you lost. The state report is the one people skip, and it is often the one with teeth.

Most states require both the charity and any paid fundraiser soliciting there to register, so a solicitor operating unregistered has already broken state law before anyone argues about where the money went. The FTC's guidance on giving to charity explains that registration requirement and notes that which office handles it differs from state to state. To find yours, use the National Association of State Charity Officials' State Government directory, last updated in October 2026.

It lists, state by state, the office that regulates charitable solicitation — usually an attorney general's charitable trusts bureau or a secretary of state charities division — with mailing addresses and phone numbers.

If you paid online, file with IC3 too

When the donation went through a texted link, a social media post, a donation page, or an email appeal, the FBI asks victims to file at ic3.gov using "File a Complaint." Its charity and disaster fraud page lists what to include: identifying details about the people or the charity, the financial transaction details, how the contact started, and how payment was requested. That last item is not a formality. How the contact reached you — a text at 9 p.m., a comment under a disaster video, a cold call — is what lets investigators link your report to others describing the same approach.

The volume behind that system is substantial. IC3 received more than 4,500 complaints in 2024 reporting roughly $96 million in losses tied to fraudulent charities, crowdfunding accounts, and disaster-relief campaigns, according to the FBI.

What to write down before you file

Every form asks for the same core facts, and reconstructing them a week later is harder than it sounds. Gather these first: The payment demand deserves the most care. The FTC's alert identifies a solicitor who will take only cash, gift cards, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency as the clearest marker of a scam, because real charities accept a range of payment methods.

Record the exact method and the specific account or wallet named — that detail is frequently the only traceable thing in the whole encounter.

• The exact name used, spelled as it appeared, plus any website, phone number, or social account
• The payment method demanded, the amount, and the account, wallet address, or gift card numbers involved
• The date, time, and channel of first contact, and who initiated it
• Screenshots of the message, post, or donation page before it disappears
• The name the solicitor gave, and any claim about a local beneficiary

Check the organization's tax status first

Before you file, spend two minutes with the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. It covers Publication 78 data, Form 990 and 990-N filings, determination letters, and the automatic revocation list, so a revoked status or a missing record is evidence you can attach to your complaint. Read the result carefully rather than treating it as a verdict.

The IRS notes that churches and government units may qualify for tax-deductible contributions without appearing in the database, so absence alone is not proof of anything. A listed revocation, by contrast, is a hard fact. If the group is registered as tax-exempt but appears to be abusing that status, the IRS takes Form 13909, the Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form.

Send it to [email protected] or mail it to IRS EO Classification, Mail Code 4910DAL, 1100 Commerce St., Dallas, TX 75242-1198. A letter with your documentation is accepted in place of the form.

Where the IRS route stops

The IRS can only act on organizations inside its jurisdiction, and most holiday collection schemes never enter it. A donation bin at a mall, a collector working a parking lot, or a crowdfunding-style appeal for a named family was never granted exempt status in the first place, so there is nothing for the IRS to revoke or examine. For those, the FTC and your state charity office are the agencies that will act, and the state registration requirement is the handle they use.

That is why the two-report instruction matters more than it looks: skipping the state filing often means skipping the only office with authority over what you actually saw.

The holiday pattern worth documenting precisely

Sound-alike naming is the seasonal version of this problem. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance warns donors to verify a charity's exact name and to be wary of social media messages offering an easy donation link to a familiar-sounding charity, and it publishes free reports evaluating charities against 20 BBB Charity Standards at Give.org for comparison. For your report, that means writing down the name exactly as it was presented — word order, abbreviations, and all.

"Children's Relief Fund of America" and "American Children's Relief Fund" are different filings, and investigators cannot connect yours to the pattern if you paraphrase the name from memory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to have lost money to file a report?

No. The FTC's alert directs consumers to report a suspected fake charity, not only a completed loss, and a report about an approach that you declined still feeds the pattern investigators look for.

What if the solicitation happened in a state where I do not live?

File with the charity regulator in the state where the solicitation took place, since that is where the registration requirement applies. The NASCO directory lists every state's office.

The group is not in the IRS database. Does that settle it?

Not on its own. The IRS notes that churches and government units can be eligible for tax-deductible contributions without being listed, so treat an absent record as a question to raise in your complaint rather than a conclusion.

How long should I keep my screenshots?

Keep them until the agencies have closed the matter. Donation pages and social accounts are taken down quickly, and your capture may be the only surviving copy of how the payment was requested.