People searching for philanthropic help are, by definition, in need and hoping — the two states fraud is built to harvest. That is why this site pairs its help directory with this page rather than burying the warning in fine print: the same week you apply to real programs, the fake ones may find you. Hope deserves protection, not exploitation, and the ask-first rule protects it without requiring you to distrust everything.
One mechanism under many costumes: you are told money is coming, then asked to send something first — a "processing fee," "tax clearance," gift cards, crypto, or your banking login to "deposit" the gift. The costume varies (billionaire giveaway DMs, "you won a grant you never applied for," fake celebrity foundations, romance-adjacent benefactors) but the ask-first mechanism is constant, and it is the whole tell: real assistance never charges you to receive it.
Act fast and without shame — these operations are industrial and their victims are ordinary. Contact your bank or card issuer immediately about reversals; report at reportfraud.ftc.gov and, for internet-based fraud, the FBI's IC3 (ic3.gov); if gift cards were involved, report to the card company with numbers — occasionally funds are frozen in time. Then expect follow-up "recovery" scammers claiming they can get your money back for a fee: that is round two of the same scam.
Independently, never through the contact that approached you: look the organization up yourself (IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search for US charities), find its official site and phone independently, and ask whether the program exists. Legitimate assistance has application processes you initiate, documented eligibility, and no fees. Unsolicited approach + urgency + secrecy + any upfront payment = walk away, whatever the letterhead says.