The solicitation of donations for a charitable cause using a fraudulent charity, a fictitious cause, or a real charity's name and reputation without authorization, with all or a substantial portion of the donated funds diverted to the fraud's organizer rather than to the stated charitable purpose. It is documented as a recurring category of fraud that increases markedly following a natural disaster or other widely publicized crisis, when public sympathy and urgency to help are highest, and a number of countries maintain a charity regulator or registry that solicitors are required to be registered with, allowing prospective donors to verify a charity's legitimate registration before giving.
Facts
Classification CodeIn California, fraudulent charitable solicitation under Penal Code 532d is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year 1 Elements of OffenseRequires soliciting or receiving money or property for a charitable, religious or eleemosynary purpose while making an unqualified statement of fact about the purpose, organization, or use of funds that is false and made willfully with knowledge of its falsity or negligently without due consideration of facts one should have known by ordinary care 1 Notable ExampleThe FTC and 50 states sued the Cancer Fund of America network of charities, which collected more than $187 million in donations from consumers that were largely diverted away from cancer patients 2 Jurisdiction VariationCharity fraud is addressed through a patchwork of controls and laws governing charities and businesses that accept donations that differs by jurisdiction 3 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. California Penal Code Section 532d (FindLaw)
Section 532d(a) penalty clause
guilty of a misdemeanor, and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year
Section 532d(a) definition clause
Any person who solicits or attempts to solicit or receives money or property of any kind for a charitable, religious or eleemosynary purpose and who, directly or indirectly, makes, utters, or delivers, either orally or in writing, an unqualified statement of fact concerning the purpose or organization for which the money or property is solicited or received, or concerning the cost and expense of solicitation or the manner in which the money or property or any part thereof is to be used, which statement is in fact false and was made, uttered, or delivered by that person either willfully and with knowledge of its falsity or negligently without due consideration of those facts which by the use of ordinary care he or she should have known, is guilty of a misdemeanor
View the Source2. Cancer Fund of America (Wikipedia)
FTC and state lawsuit settlement sectionQuote, FTC and state lawsuit settlement section
collected more than $187 million in donations from consumers
3. Charity fraud (Wikipedia)
Regulatory and legal framework sectionQuote, Regulatory and legal framework section
there are controls and laws governing charities and businesses that accept donations
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