The Monthly Donation Harvest
- Richard Stocks
- Jul 21
- 2 min read
Flggd Scam School · Charity & Crisis Scams · Lesson 8 of 8
There's a small monthly donation on your card that you don't remember starting. Small is the strategy; here's how the monthly donation harvest works.
The message looks like this
Why this is a scam
Some versions convert a one-time gift into a recurring one through fine print you never saw. Others invent the charge entirely; you never gave at all, and the "receipt" is your first contact with them.
The amount is chosen to slip past you. Nineteen dollars looks like a subscription you forgot, so months pass before you question it.
The cancel line is a second trap. Call it and a friendly agent confirms your card number "to locate the donation", or upsells you into a bigger gift.
Red flags checklist
A receipt for a recurring donation you don't remember starting.
A small, forgettable monthly amount.
A charity name that's warm, generic, and hard to verify.
Cancelling requires a phone call instead of a link in your account.
The charge appears on your statement under a different name than the email.
The manipulation tactic
Invisibility plus guilt. The charge is sized to be ignored, and cancelling a children's charity feels bad; the scam leans on both.
What to do, and what not to do
Check your card statement for the charge and its exact merchant name.
Dispute unrecognized charges with your card company directly; that's what they're for.
Don't call the number in the email, and never confirm card details to "locate a donation".
Ask your card company to block the merchant and reissue the card if the charge repeats.
Review your statements monthly; small recurring scams live on inattention.
Not sure about a message you've received? Check it in seconds with the free Flggd app.
