Scam simulator · Computer, online and social media
After a hurricane, a heartbreaking post asks for help for families who lost everything. Practice how to give safely, and see how scammers use a disaster to take money meant for people in need.
Why it matters: People reported losing $7.9 million to charity fraud to the FBI in 2025. Those aged 60 and over lost $3.5 million of it, more than 40%. (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 report)
A hurricane hit the coast three days ago, and the news is full of flooded homes and families in shelters. You’ve been wondering how you can help.
Below, each step shows what you'd see, the choices people make, and why each one is safe or risky. The summary at the end tells you what to look for and what to do.
You'll see each message or call as it would really look. Choose what you'd do, and you'll find out why. Nothing here is real: no messages are sent and nothing you choose leaves your device.
Scrolling through social media in the evening, you see a post that your neighbor has shared.
Storm Relief Families FundPost
They lost everything overnight. Please don't scroll past.
Picture: A crying little girl in a flooded street, soaked to the skin, holding a muddy teddy bear. The picture is strangely perfect, almost like a painting.
Maria and her three children are sleeping in their car after the storm took their home. Hundreds of families are just like them.
Every hour counts. Your gift today buys water, food and a safe place to sleep.
Shared 12,400 times
Donate now
What do you do?
Have you heard of this group before? Does a share from a friend tell you where the money goes?
Tap Donate now. My neighbor shared it, and those children need help today.
Risky choice (your choice)
It’s a kind impulse, and it’s exactly what the post is designed for. A share from a friend doesn’t check anything, because your neighbor may simply have been moved by the picture too. The link goes wherever the person who made the post wants it to.
Share it so more people see it, but don’t give anything myself yet.
Better, but not the safest (your choice)
You haven’t lost any money. But sharing helps the post reach more kind people, which is exactly what the scammers want. It’s best to check an appeal before you pass it on.
Don’t tap the link. If I want to help, I’ll give to a charity I already know, by typing its website address myself.
Safe choice (your choice)
That’s the safest way to give. A charity you already know, reached through an address you typed yourself, is much harder for scammers to fake. If you want to support a new group, check it on your country’s official charity register first.
Red flags at this step
What's really going on
Scam appeals appear quickly after big disasters. After Hurricane Melissa in October 2025, the Better Business Bureau warned that scammers were using AI to make fake images, videos and social media posts asking for donations. As one BBB leader put it: “Everything that you see may not be true, may not be real.” The FTC adds that you shouldn’t assume a request is genuine, or its link accurate, just because a friend posted it.
Suppose you do tap the link. A donation page opens.
Storm Relief Families Fund: Give Now
Every hour counts. 100% of your gift goes straight to families.
To get help to them fastest, we accept:
Sorry, we can’t take credit cards right now due to high demand.
Your name
Amount
Give $100
The page wants a gift card, crypto or a payment app. What do you do?
Look at the ways they want to be paid, and read the web address from the right.
Send $100 through my payment app. It’s quick, and the families need it now.
Risky choice (your choice)
The FTC says a charity that asks you to pay with a payment app, crypto, a wire transfer or a gift card is likely a scam. Money sent this way goes straight to whoever set up the page, and there’s no way to know it will ever reach a family in need.
Buy a gift card at the store and send them a photo of it, since that’s what they prefer.
Risky choice (your choice)
No real charity asks for gift cards. Once you send a photo of the front and back, whoever has it can spend the money straight away. The request itself is the clearest sign this is a scam.
Close the page. Real charities take credit cards and checks, so I’ll give another way, to a charity I know.
Safe choice (your choice)
Exactly right. The FTC says donating by credit card or check is the safest way. Asking for gift cards, crypto or a payment app is a sign that something is wrong.
Red flags at this step
What's really going on
The FTC puts it simply: “If a charity asks you to pay with cryptocurrency, by wiring money through Western Union or MoneyGram, with a payment app, or with a gift card, it’s likely a scam.” Scammers also pretend to be real local groups. After the Texas Hill Country floods in July 2025, the Texas Attorney General warned that scammers were using payment services in the name of a real volunteer fire department, so donations went to them instead.
The next evening, your phone rings. The caller ID shows a charity’s name.
Incoming call
Caller ID: Storm Relief Fund
What do you do?
Do you remember making a pledge? Can a caller ID be faked?
Give my card number. I give to a few charities, and I may well have pledged last year.
Risky choice (your choice)
The “thank you” is the trick: it makes you feel you’ve already said yes. Your card number now goes to a stranger who called you, and it can be used for other payments too.
Ask for their charity registration number and how much goes to the families, then decide.
Better, but not the safest (your choice)
Asking questions is a good instinct. But a practiced caller will have smooth answers, including a registration number that may belong to someone else. If you want to give, hang up and contact the charity yourself, using details from the official register or its own website.
Say “I don’t give to people who call me,” and hang up. If I want to give, I’ll contact a charity I know myself.
Safe choice (your choice)
That’s the safe answer. A real charity will be glad of your gift whether you give now or next week, through its own website or phone number. You don’t owe a caller anything.
Red flags at this step
What's really going on
Thanking you for a pledge you never made is a known trick. The FTC’s advice is: “If the fundraiser says you already pledged, stop and check.” It also warns that caller ID can be faked to show a local number or a real organization’s name, and that scammers use names that sound a lot like real charities.
On Saturday morning there’s a knock at the door. Two young men are standing there with a bucket.
Two young men in matching T-shirts. One holds a plastic bucket with a handwritten “Storm Relief” label and no seal on the lid. The other wears a laminated badge on a lanyard with a printed photo and the words “Official Collector”, but no charity name or number.
What do you do?
Whose name is on the badge? And why would they need to hold your card?
Put $20 in the bucket. It’s only a small amount, and they’re out in the heat.
Risky choice (your choice)
It’s a small, kind gesture, but there’s no way to know where the money goes. An unsealed bucket and a badge with no charity name are warning signs. Giving at the door also tells them you’re someone who gives.
Hand over my card so they can take a donation on their phone.
Risky choice (your choice)
Never hand your card to anyone at the door. In the UK, the Fundraising Regulator says a genuine fundraiser should never ask to see your physical card. Once it’s out of your hand, they can copy the details or charge more than you agreed.
Politely say no and close the door. If I want to help, I’ll give to a charity I know, directly.
Safe choice (your choice)
That’s right. You don’t need a reason to say no at your own door. If you’d like to give, a charity you already know, reached through its own website, is the safest route.
Red flags at this step
What's really going on
Genuine collectors can show you who they work for, and you can check it. In the UK, the Fundraising Regulator says collectors must have an ID badge with details of their license to collect, and cash containers must be sealed. Australia’s charity regulator, the ACNC, says to ask collectors for proof that they’re from the charity they say they represent.
Suppose someone did give their card number over the phone. Three weeks later, they check their card statement.
Your Bank
Recent card activity, card ending 2290
What do you do?
Did you make those other payments? Whose number should you call?
Wait for next month’s statement. They might be mistakes that sort themselves out.
Risky choice (your choice)
Payments you don’t recognize rarely sort themselves out. Waiting gives the people with your card number more time to use it, and it can make disputing the charges harder.
Call the Storm Relief Fund back to ask what happened.
Risky choice (your choice)
The number that called you belongs to the scammers. They may apologize, offer a “refund” and ask for more details to process it. Call your bank instead.
Call my bank on the number on my card, report the charges, and ask for a new card.
Safe choice (your choice)
That’s the right move. Your bank can cancel the card so it can’t be used again, and help you dispute the payments you didn’t make.
Red flags at this step
What's really going on
Anyone who has your card number can try to use it. The FTC advises reporting it to your card issuer immediately, using the number on the back of your card or your bank’s app. The sooner you call, the sooner the card is stopped.
A month later, a new text arrives.
This sender is not in your contacts.
What do you do?
Would replying make things better or worse?
Give again. It’s a different disaster, and they said thank you last time.
Risky choice (your choice)
It’s the same group, back with a new disaster. Being called a “loyal donor” is flattering, and it’s meant to be. Anything you give goes to the same people as before.
Reply STOP so they don’t text me again.
Risky choice (your choice)
Replying tells them your number is real and that someone reads their texts. You’ll often get more messages, not fewer. It’s better not to reply at all.
Don’t reply or tap the link. Report it as junk and delete it. (In the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand you can also forward it to 7726.) Then report the fund.
Safe choice (your choice)
Well done. Reporting helps phone companies block the sender, and reporting the fund helps the authorities warn others. You’ve lost nothing this time.
Red flags at this step
What's really going on
Once scammers have your number, you may get more requests, often tied to the next disaster in the news. Reporting them helps. In the US you can report to the FTC and your state attorney general, in the UK to Report Fraud and the Charity Commission, and in Australia to Scamwatch and the ACNC. It’s also worth telling the real charity if scammers are using its name, or one like it.
The Storm Relief Families Fund wasn’t a charity. It was a name, a social media page, a phone script and a bucket, put together within days of the hurricane, with pictures that were partly made with AI. The money went to the people behind it, not to families. Real charities were helping on the ground, and the safest way to reach them is to go to them yourself: a charity you already know, checked on the official register, and paid by credit card or check.
Test your family
Send this simulator to a parent, grandparent or friend. They try it on their own phone or computer, and at the end they can send their score straight back to you, so you can see which steps caught them out. Then talk it over together.
Nothing is sent to us. Your first name and their score travel only inside the link you send, after the # sign, which web browsers never send to our website.
You were challenged
Finish the simulator above, then you can send your score back. They'll see which steps you got right, and which ones caught you out.
Only your first name and which answers you chose go in the link, after the # sign. Nothing is sent to us.
From simulator to confidence
This simulator is one scam. Scam-Proof puts 50 of today's scams in one calm, large-print book to keep by the phone, for you and the people you love.
This scam is in the book. Scam 43 in the book's 50-scam library covers the fake charity appeal, and Chapter 1 shows the three-part pattern behind it and almost every other scam.
254 pages · 16-point large print · paperback and Kindle ebook · written for older adults and the families who help them
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Summary · keep this
Remember: Give to charities you choose, not charities that find you. Go to the charity’s own website yourself, check it on the official register, and pay by credit card or check.
Don't be embarrassed. These scams are run by professionals, and acting fast gives you the best chance of stopping the damage.
Phone numbers and web addresses were checked on 28 September 2026. They can change; if one doesn't work, search for the organization's official website, and please let us know.
The people, numbers, companies and web addresses shown in this simulator are made up. The way the scam works is taken from real cases reported by police, regulators and consumer groups.
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