Scam Awareness

Secure ways to donate:

• Visit crs.org/ways-to-help
• Sign up for a password-protected profile on the CRS Donor Portal.
• To make a gift by phone, call 877-435-7277 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. After hours, please leave a voicemail, and your call will be returned the next business day.
• To donate by mail, send to our secure donation processing facility:
  Catholic Relief Services
  P.O. Box 5278 
  Tipton, IA 52772-0517

Tips For Protecting Yourself and Reporting Charity Fraud in the United States

If you suspect, or have been the victim of, a charity scam in the United States, please visit these FBI and FTC websites to learn how to protect yourself and report fraud to the appropriate authorities.

Report Scams to CRS

• A thank you for a donation you do not recall making. Making you think you’ve already given to the cause is a common trick that scammers use to confuse you.
• A request for payment by virtual currency, gift card or wire transfer. Those are scammers' favored payment methods because the money is difficult to trace.
• Scam Websites:
  • Misspellings in the URL.
  • CRS logo does not go to crs.org.
  • Spelling mistakes and other errors throughout the page.

More Ways to Protect Yourself

• Give only to established charities, such as Catholic Relief Services.
• Be aware of new organizations asking for money.
• Manually type out suspicious links instead of clicking on them.
• Give using a check, credit card or debit. If an organization asks you to donate through gift card, virtual currency or wire transfer, it's probably a scam.

Visit Charity and Disaster Fraud — FBI for more information or visit the Better Business Bureau to verify the organization.

Known Scams

Social Media Scams: Scammers set up fake Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok accounts and profiles to solicit donations during disasters or emergencies. These accounts or users send donors to fake websites or provide a fake email address that includes CRS’ name and logo

Fake Check Scam: Scammers have sent checks to our donors, in envelopes bearing our name, address and logo, asking for the check to be deposited and correspondence via text message once complete. The scammer will then ask for money to be sent to them once the check has cleared due to a mistake. However, fake checks can take weeks to be discovered, by which time the scammer has taken a donor’s money and left the donor to pay the bank back. Go to the FTC Consumer Information website to learn more about fake check scams.

Grant Disbursement via Social Messaging Apps: Scammers in one of the countries we work have set up groups in various messaging apps, using CRS’ name and logo to advertise and organize fraudulent grant registration operations. These scammers charge individuals a registration fee to access grant funds which do not exist.

Fake Recruiting Sites: Scammers have set up fake recruiting sites using CRS’ name and logo, charging applications a fee to apply for open positions. CRS never charges fees for application. All open CRS positions are available for application at CRS Careers page.

Fake recruitment offers in places like Kenya:

It has been brought to our attention that fake recruitment offers are being circulated via e-mail, web sites, text messages or e-mail, from certain individuals claiming to represent CRS Kenya.

The fraudsters are asking applicants to send their applications to a Gmail address and a postal address. The scammers are using the CRS logo to mislead the public and ask for payments from applicants.

Please note:

• Catholic Relief Services (CRS) does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process,
• CRS does not request any information related to bank accounts or other private information,
• All applications should be submitted online through the careers section of the CRS website.

Should you receive any suspicious job vacancy announcements, please contact us on 020 4210000 for clarification.