Nonprofit websites ask for something valuable: your money, your time, and your trust that both will be used well. Charity scam sites exploit goodwill, especially during disasters and holidays when people are most willing to give.
We evaluate nonprofit sites on the same technical signals as everything else: SSL configuration, domain age, WHOIS records, safe browsing data, and web reputation. These won't tell you if a charity is effective, but they'll tell you if the website collecting your donation is legitimate.
The red flags are familiar: recently registered domains that pop up right after a crisis, anonymous ownership, basic SSL that was set up yesterday, and no verifiable history online. Scam charity sites are designed to collect a wave of donations and disappear.
Trusted nonprofit sites have established domains, often years or decades old, transparent organizational ownership, strong security for donation processing, and clean reputations. Many legitimate nonprofits also link to their profiles on charity watchdog sites, which is a good secondary check.
Before you donate to an unfamiliar organization online, check the trust score. Legitimate charities are happy to be verified — they want you to trust them. The ones that can't pass a basic trust check probably shouldn't get your money.