I gave to a "celebrity" fundraiser. There was no celebrity.

A fundraiser in my feed used a famous actor’s name, face, and a link to “official” merch whose proceeds would go to disaster relief.

I donated and shared the post before I read the comments under the real celebrity’s account warning people away.

The site took my card smoothly and sent a generic receipt; when I went back two days later the domain had changed and the social account that promoted it was gone.

Fake celebrity charity pages steal branding and urgency so donations go to criminals.

The publicist’s team later posted a scam alert listing domains that were not theirs.

While I checked out I trusted the cause and the familiar face more than I checked the URL against the star’s verified link-in-bio.

The real charity’s press office confirmed no partnership with that site when I emailed from their dot-org contact page.

The money was gone and so was the good I thought I had done; reporting the charges and domain at least fed the platforms’ abuse queues.

I only donate through verified celebrity channels or known charity sites I open myself—not from promoted posts I see once.

• Verify fundraisers on the celebrity’s official social accounts or charity registry.
• Report fake donation pages to the platform and payment fraud channels.

For more help, see our Report a scam page and Spot and avoid scams guide.