Dartmouth non-profit warns other charities about fake donor scam

A non-profit organization in Dartmouth, N.S., says it was recently the target of a fake donor scam, and now it’s warning other charities about the sinister tactic.

"We got an email from a donor who said they were elderly, and her husband had passed away and we were named in the will and a donation would be coming our way,” says Wendy Fraser, the executive director at The North Grove. 

Fraser says her organization received a realistic-looking cheque for $70,000USD. They took it to the bank and informed the sender they had received it. 

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"As soon as we let them know, they asked us to return part of it because they had sent more than they realized, and they asked us to please send it back, a significant chunk,” explains Fraser.

The scammers wanted $40,000 returned to them from the original $70,000.

Fraser says, if they had fallen for the con, it would have had a significant impact on the organization. For less-established entities, such a scam could put them out of business. 

"We have 26 partner organizations that share a space and provide programs here and we also provide programs for thousands of people, but it would also have an impact across the board on what we could provide,” says Fraser. 

“So, to not be able to provide that would have been heartbreaking.”

Beck Tech CEO Scott Beck says these scams are known as refund scams or overpayment scams and they are becoming more common. 

"So these types of scams we are seeing more and more and more, traditionally it had been based towards users and people – a long-lost uncle who lived in New York City and is looking to leave you money and it’s some legal firm, but if you actually looked up the name of the firm on Google and did a little research, you would find out it’s a scam,” says Beck.

Beck also says companies are making it too easy for hackers by sometimes putting too much information online.

“Which is providing the hackers, the bad actors, if you will, the information to run the scams against,” says Beck.

“At one time you could look at a few indicators and tell this doesn't smell right. Now it's getting much harder thanks to AI. We are almost at the point where we have to assume it's a scam until it's proven otherwise.” 

Scams can be difficult to detect but Beck says there are a few things to look out for. 

“The first thing you want to do is that if you are getting it by email, take a look at the email address. What's after the @-sign? Go to Google and take a look and see where those signs are,” says Beck. 

While members of The North Grove realized they were being scammed, Fraser says they are still out $900 due to the currency exchange.

“The challenge was that because it’s a currency exchange, the day that it was put in our account, even though it wasn't real money in there yet, it was at a certain currency exchange, and then the day it was taken out or reversed it was different, so it actually cost us money in currency exchange,” she explains.

After this is paid, Fraser says they will move forward and educate smaller non-profits about what to watch for so they don’t fall victim to similar scams.

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