I learned about the following from article from Kris Kewitsch at the Charities Review Council on the Nonprofit Tech Talk List. It’s a little bit off my usual post but I thought it might be helpful to pass on…

The Council is aware that at least ten of our nonprofit partners in the Twin Cities area have recently encountered a scam.

The current scheme entails an individual making a large donation via a cashier’s check in memory of a loved one. The individual then contacts the organization indicating the amount gifted was inadvertently too large and asks for a partial return of funds. The loss to the nonprofit occurs when they reimburse the individual and come to find that the initial, larger donation never cleared because the cashier’s check used was fraudulent.

Should your organization suspect or encounter a scam, the Council recommends that you save all physical and digital materials and communications involved, notify your bank of the concern, and promptly file an online report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Additional reading to increase your awareness of common business scams is available here from the Better Business Bureau®.

At the very least, these scams can cause a real headache and unfortunate use of staff resources. In more severe cases, they can also cause significant harm to your organization’s financial health.