How do I know if a charity listed 'in lieu of flowers' in an obituary is legitimate?

Families often ask mourners to donate to a cause the deceased cared about instead of sending flowers, and this is a genuine and common practice. However, scammers monitor obituaries and sometimes create fake donation pages using a similar or identical name to the real charity mentioned, then promote these fake pages through social media shares, forwarded emails, or comments on the funeral home's online guest book, hoping to intercept well-meaning donors.

The fake pages may look convincing, using real photos of the deceased pulled from the obituary or social media, and may even reference genuine details about the funeral to seem authentic. Donors who click through and give often have no idea their money never reached the actual charity or family.

The safest approach is to navigate directly to the named charity's official website by typing the address yourself or searching for it independently, verify the charity's registration status with a national charity regulator, and avoid donating through any third-party link shared in a social post, comment, or forwarded message, no matter how sincere it appears.