{"id":6165,"date":"2026-08-28T07:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6165"},"modified":"2026-08-28T07:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:09:15","slug":"scammers-are-hijacking-tap-to-pay-donations-to-turn-a-20-gift-into-a-2000-charge-heres-how-to-protect-your-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6165","title":{"rendered":"Scammers are hijacking tap-to-pay donations to turn a $20 gift into a $2,000 charge\u2014here\u2019s how to protect your money"},"content":{"rendered":"
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But the problem is, a growing number of scammers are out there posing as a nonprofit or charity and asking for money. And not only that, but some will do the old bait-and-switch with payments. For example, you intend to donate $20 using a tap-to-pay model, but the scammer would change the transaction to $2,000 without you even noticing. That\u2019s according to Kurt Knutsson, the tech expert behind CyberGuy Report.<\/p>\n

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Essentially, scammers are taking advantage of the newer tap-to-pay model, hoping you won\u2019t notice the number on the screen had changed based on what you had agreed on donating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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This further dissolves the trust in philanthropies and nonprofit organizations millennials and Gen Zers so desperately want. According to Bloomerang\u2019s 2026 Giving Signals Report, conducted with The Harris Poll among more than 1,000 U.S. donors and 400 fundraising leaders in March, millennials and Gen Z care most about giving because it makes them feel as if they are \u201cpart of something.\u201d But even more than that, consumers want to trust in organizations while discretionary spending is more precious amid inflation, stagnant wages, and a higher cost of living.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDonors are ready to trust nonprofits, but they want to see the receipts more,\u201d Steve Isom, chief operating and financial officer of nonprofit software company Bloomerang, recently told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cA bit more trust, but verified.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Bloomerang report shows 85% of active donors trust the organizations they donate to use funds effectively, building trust takes time. So, increased scam activity can break down that trust that real philanthropic organizations and nonprofits need to succeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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So how can consumers avoid scams and trust real organizations?<\/h2>\n

The disconnect starts with a subtle, yet critical distinction: Authenticating a payment and trusting it aren\u2019t the same thing. A donor can approve a transaction on a card reader and still be deceived about what they are actually agreeing to, Mary Ann Miller, fraud and cybercrime executive advisor and VP of client experience at identity verification company Prove, told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe technology may work exactly as designed, but the problem is the manipulation happening around the transaction,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Grayscale CEO: Crypto winter has thawed\u2014but market watchers are still missing the point<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cFraudsters are increasingly exploiting trusted interactions and familiar behaviors rather than trying to break through security controls,\u201d she continued. \u201cAs these attacks become more convincing, consumers can\u2019t rely solely on intuition or a single authentication step to determine whether an interaction is legitimate or not.\u201d She advises consumers to pause and think before they tap to pay.<\/p>\n

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Verification gaps matter even more once the money is gone because recovering funds is not guaranteed. Once a payment is authorized by the donor (and not made fraudulently by someone else), getting those funds back becomes even harder, Eva Velasquez, CEO of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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While credit cards can offer a cushion because cardholders can contact the issuer and dispute the charge, instant payment methods don\u2019t carry the same protections, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is going to be much more difficult to articulate to the financial institutions, and there is no guarantee that you will be made financially whole,\u201d Velasquez added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s because \u201cyou did, in fact, authorize the payment,\u201d she added, \u201cbut you did not check the final amount for the authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She also encourages people to flip the dynamic entirely and pick the charity yourself, rather than letting it pick you. Rather than reacting to whoever approaches with a card reader, she encourages donors to decide for themselves which causes they want to support, then vet those organizations through third-party charity accreditation sites before donating.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Clearly, people hate data centers\u2019: Sam Altman admits Americans hate what he\u2019s wrought as his own data centers head quits<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As tap-to-pay makes street donations effortless, fraudsters are quietly inflating charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scam"],"yoast_head":"\nScammers are hijacking tap-to-pay donations to turn a $20 gift into a $2,000 charge\u2014here\u2019s how to protect your money - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scammers are hijacking tap-to-pay donations to turn a $20 gift into a $2,000 charge\u2014here\u2019s how to protect your money - 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