Wise Giving Wednesday: International Fraud Awareness Week

As we recognize International Fraud Awareness Week, BBB Wise Giving Alliance joins the global effort to spotlight how individuals and organizations can protect themselves with some key charity fraud prevention tips.

25 Years of Promoting Global Fraud Awareness

This week marks the 25th anniversary of International Fraud Awareness Week (November 16-22), dedicated to the global effort “to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education.” The week was established by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), a membership organization of over 95,000 professionals dedicated to anti-fraud training and education.

Understanding the Cost of Fraud Across Sectors

According to ACFE’s Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations, businesses, governments, and nonprofits cumulatively lose approximately 5% of their revenue each year to fraud. The report is based on more than 1,900 cases of occupational fraud and explores costs, schemes, victims, and perpetrators of fraud.

Protect Your Donations and Charities Against Fraud

In honor of International Fraud Awareness Week, we’re sharing two sets of tips: first, tips to help donors avoid fraud; and second, tips from ACFE to help organizations protect themselves against fraud. While ACFE’s guidance is primarily aimed at small businesses, the advice is applicable to charitable organizations.

Donor Tips to Help Avoid Fraud This Giving Season

• Don’t fall for excessive pressure to give. If a charity requests that you send money on the spot, be mindful that this could be a ruse to get you to contribute without doing your due diligence. Trustworthy charities will welcome your interest, give you time to verify their legitimacy, and accept your donation at your convenience.
• Be cautious of vague fundraising appeals. Make sure that program descriptions are clear in any materials, including appeals, annual reports, or websites. Fraudsters might seek to tug at heartstrings without offering specifics.
• Examine financial statements. While you shouldn’t rely solely on financial information before giving, be alert to groups that don’t readily share financial information or spend very little on program activities.
• Avoid mistaken identity. Look carefully at names of charities to ensure you are giving to the right organization. Scammers will seek to use similar sounding names to confuse you.
• Visit BBB’s Give.org to verify if a charity meets all 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability (i.e. a BBB Accredited Charity.) You can view our Alphabetical List of Charity Reports and search for charity reports here.

ACFE’s Best Practices to Reduce Organizational Fraud Risks

• Adopt a code of ethics for management of employees and controls for identifying vulnerabilities.
• Establish hiring procedures that verify educational credits and include background checks (as permitted by law).
• Train employees in fraud prevention.
• Provide an anonymous reporting system for employees and other stakeholders to help uncover fraud.
• Communicate anti-fraud policies, consequences of fraudulent behavior, and ways to report fraud to staff.

Strengthening Cybersecurity to Protect Donor Data

BBB WGA also encourage charities to proactively keep data as safe from fraud as possible by strengthening cybersecurity measures. Here’s one approach to data security from the BBB. We also encourage donors to always review a charity’s privacy policies online to see how the organization keeps your information safe.

Report Suspected Fraud Using BBB Scam Tracker

If you suspect you’ve been a victim of fraud, use BBB’s Scam Tracker to report or look up a scam for verification.

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What Can AI Do for Nonprofits? A conversation with AFP’s Art Taylor and Zigment’s Dikshant Dave

In the latest of our AI Conversations with BBB Accredited Charities, we explore how AI can help—not replace—nonprofits. Bennett Weiner, President & CEO, BBB Wise Giving Alliance is joined by Art Taylor, CEO, AFP Global and Dikshant Dave, CEO of Zigment for a practical discussion on how AI is already supporting donor engagement, streamlining operations, and expanding impact. With real-life insights including an example from Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope for Ukraine (a BBB Accredited Charity), this conversation is packed with ideas for nonprofits ready to explore ethical, mission-aligned AI tools. You can see the episode’s full description here. Interested in more content around AI and Nonprofits? Check out our AI & Trust in the Charitable Sector newsfeed.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Hope for Justice
• Trust for Public Land
• Stray Animal Foundation of India

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.