# Fraudulent charities, donations to

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraudulent-charities-donations-to/154380
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 11, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraudulent-charities-donations-to/154380 "2003-02-11T17:20:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraudulent-charities-donations-to/154380/1 "2003-02-11T17:20:48Z")

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What with that guy pleading guilty to racketeering regarding his allegedly fraudulent charity, I got to wondering whether people who unwittingly donated to such a charity and claimed the benefits of the donation on their income tax are potentially subject to penalty. I would imagine that anyone who knowingly donated to a “terrorist-front” charity or any scam charity (“terrorist front” or not) would be subject to criminal and civil penalties (i.e. racketeering or money laundering). I can’t imagine filing criminal charges against an unwitting donor but could they be dinged by the IRS?