Editing Internet fraud (section)

==Charity fraud==
{{main|Charity fraud}}
The scammer poses as a [[charitable organization]] soliciting donations to help the victims of a natural disaster, terrorist attack (such as the [[9/11 attacks]]), regional conflict, or [[epidemic]]. [[Hurricane Katrina]] and the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake|2004 tsunami]] were popular targets of scammers perpetrating charity scams; other more timeless scam charities purport to be raising money for [[cancer (disease)|cancer]], [[AIDS]] or [[Ebola virus]] research, children's orphanages (the scammer pretends to work for the orphanage or a non-profit associated with it), or impersonates charities such as the [[Red Cross]] or [[United Way of America|United Way]]. In recent years, there have been cases of scams being done by the people who started the charity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goel|first=Rajeev K.|date=2020|title=Uncharitable Acts in Charity: Socioeconomic Drivers of Charity-Related Fraud|journal=Social Science Quarterly|language=en|volume=101|issue=4|pages=1397–1412|doi=10.1111/ssqu.12794|issn=1540-6237|doi-access=free}}</ref>

A 2019 example of this was the head of the Long Island Charity, Wafa Abbound. Abbound was found guilty of stealing close to a million dollars. She was charged with bank fraud, money laundering, and embezzling.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Burke|first=Cathy|title=L.I. charity chief convicted of embezzling nearly $1 million meant for disabled|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-long-island-charity-embezzle-scheme-convicted-20190710-bu6y4kvlpzbabgus55aqgbm3j4-story.html|access-date=2021-04-22|website=nydailynews.com|date=9 July 2019 }}</ref> There are many methods scammers will use. First, they will ask for donations, often linking to online news articles to strengthen their story of a funds drive. The scammer's victims are charitable people who believe they are helping a worthy cause and expect nothing in return. Once sent, the money is gone and the scammer often disappears, though many attempts to keep the scam going by asking for a series of payments. The victim may sometimes find themselves in legal trouble after deducting their supposed donations from their income taxes. United States [[tax law]] states that charitable donations are only deductible if made to a qualified non-profit organization.<ref name=CC_1>{{cite web| title=Charitable Contributions: For use in preparing 2022 Returns| url=https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf| publisher=[[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of the Treasury]]| date=13 February 2024| access-date=19 January 2024}}</ref>

The scammer may tell the victim their donation is deductible and provide all necessary proof of donation, but the information provided by the scammer is fictional, and if audited, the victim faces stiff penalties as a result of the fraud. Though these scams have some of the highest success rates especially following a major disaster and are employed by scammers all over the world, the average loss per victim is less than other fraud schemes. This is because, unlike scams involving a largely expected payoff, the victim is far less likely to borrow money to donate or donate more than they can spare.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/unexpected-money/nigerian-scams|title=Scam Watch - Nigerian Scams|publisher=Scam Watch - Australian Government|date=12 May 2016}}</ref>