The charity sector in Kyrgyzstan is growing, yet for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: the fraud cases increase along with the cases of real help.
We have talked to representatives of some charitable foundations in Kyrgyzstan about cases when scammers hide behind the names of other foundations to steal money. They have also given us some hints, which can help spot a charity fraud.
“10-12 years ago, one of our care recipients was visited by some people who represented themselves as employees of the Babushka Adoption Foundation. Therefore, they were let in, and the old woman was robbed, unfortunately. Later, she came to our office with the police and we had to explain that we were working honestly, and no one of our employees robbed anyone,” said Aidai Kadyrova, director of Babushka Adoption Foundation.
Similar situations have happened more than once. A scammer tried to appropriate the property of another care recipient of the organisation the same way.
“This case was investigated by the city prosecutor’s office. They solved the case: the property was returned to the old woman, now deceased, before making it to the court,” Aidai Kadyrova said.
In the first case, the old woman had mental disorders (some care recipients of Babushka Adoption Foundation are people with mental and behavioural disorders – author’s note), so she was confused in her testimony. Eventually, the case was not successful: scammers were never found, no trials followed.
Another situation happened to the head of the youth charitable organisation SOS, Ermek Omurov. When they planned to visit orphanages in Osh and Dzhalal-Abad regions, the head of some security agency in Dzhalal-Abad volunteered to help them and raised some money from his colleague and acquaintances for transportation.
“We ordered the transport: loaded the stuff into the truck, sent it, and then left by car because that man said he had enough money as he raised nearly 24 thousand som (283 dollars) across the region. As soon as we arrived, he met us and urged us not to lose time and deliver the stuff to orphanages and send him photo and video report of these events. He promised to pay our transportation costs and buy stuff for children as soon as we leave for Osh,” Ermek Omurov said.
As a result, that person stopped answering our calls, messages, and the volunteers did not see him anymore.
“He probably provided our photos and videos as an evidence to those people who paid him the money,” Omurov said.
In addition, he shared a fraud story that happened with one of the city’s foundations that operated in 2018-2019. This foundation organised raising of clothing allegedly for charity and then sold clothes at Osh bazaar.
Incidents related to unfair use of cash donations happen from time to time: mother spent the money raised for surgery and treatment of her daughter with a serious illness regularly. Some charitable organisations have had discussions on that matter, too.
“The foundation that raised clothes is inactive now. They worked for one to one and a half years and then they had to close up because they could not provide their action reports. As to the ill girl with her mother, the foundations do not help them – they declared a boycott until mother stops spending the money on herself,” Ermek Omurov said.
This practice is far from uncommon. Volunteer Nadezhda Khokhlova in the interview to Sputnik said that people who do not need help anymore continue to raise money: one man submitted documents proving that his child was ill and needed help to the charitable foundation. Later it was found out that the boy recovered already.
Another story is that the parents of a boy who died from cancer continued to raise money from all those who wanted to help their child. Even during funerals, they kept answering phone calls and dictated bank details.
In 2018, the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Chui region put Leila Nazgul Seyitbek, head of the charitable foundation Blago.kg, on the wanted list due to suspected land plot schemes. According to the law-enforcement agencies, the foundation raised money from ordinary people and promised to provide them with land plots instead. As a result, the people lost their money and did not get what they wanted.
See also: Fake Charity: How Not to Become the Victim of Swindlers?
How to avoid fraud in an attempt to help those in need?
Experts agree that there are no specific markers. It is very difficult to spot if any charitable organisation is really deceiving people or any announcement seeking help on social media is fake. However, they list some actions that should be taken if you want to make sure that your donation reaches the beneficiary.
If you want to donate money to a charitable organisation, you should:
Take the time to read all information about the organisation available online, read reviews about it, ask your acquaintances, if possible, who dealt with it, check their website and social media accounts.
As Lira Dzhuraeva, national director of SOS Children’s Villages of Kyrgyzstan, recommended, you should always pay attention to the structure of the organisation: when you are given various options of help to those in need, or specific packages. In other words, you can become a sponsor of a household, a sponsor of a hospital. Or you can pay for children’s extended activities, nutrition or school supplies.
Competent fundraising always gives a choice to a donator. The fundraiser’s goal is to provide maximum comfortable options of donation. If such a system exists, the foundation is more trusted.
“For example, such organisations as ours are registered with the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic. And one can contact state bodies and ask whatever you want, for example, if they pay taxes or not,” Aidai Kadyrova said.
Study all photo reports, video reports, financial statements of the organisation. Foundations that have nothing to hide are open for the public.
If you notice a large time gap between the announcement of any event and its photo or video reports, you should be cautious as bona fide organisations try to post information about how the event took place, who took part in it and so on right after such events.
Moreover, if financial statements are not publicly available on their website or social media, you can ask for them by directly contacting the organisation.
“There have been cases when our announcements have been mailed with modified bank details. Therefore, it is better to double-check them, contact the administration of the organisation, verify bank details with the ones available in the official accounts of the organisation,” Ermek Omurov said.
If a person who introduces oneself as a volunteer, officer of any charitable organisation, approaches to you outside, ask him/her to show you identity documents and the official letter of the organisation.
For example, volunteers of the youth charitable organisation SOS have badges with their surnames and first names, account of the organisation on Instagram. Also, they should have a letter from the organisation affixed with the seal, and the copy of the foundation’s registration certificate on the back.
If a volunteer, officer comes home to the vulnerable people, you should invite neighbours or other acquaintances to your talk and you should not sign any papers.
Do not hesitate to appeal directly to the organisation and ask for any information that is interesting to you, but personal information of the people who are the beneficiaries or a given charitable organisation and/or foundation. This is confidential information.
As to the check of individuals asking for help, for example, on social media, the situation is aggravated but the main task remains the same: more information about such people and their cases should be studied. People who really need help will be open for public and will be ready for the dialogue.
According to Lira Dzhuraeva, if we want to help anyone, we should help those who want to change their life for the better. Does a person have desire, willingness, readiness to develop further to become self-sufficient?
“If a person raises funds legally, there will be many posts online about him/her. Foundations will start writing about such person. Now they publish verified information only,” Ermek Omurov said.
However, it is better to visit a person who asks for help and make sure he/she needs it. Or you could provide other kind of help but financial one, for example, you could give him/her a job,” Lira Dzhuraeva said.
This article was prepared as part of the Amplify, Verify, Engage: Information for Democratisation and Good Governance in Eurasia project implemented by IWPR and funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and mentoring program of the Development of New Media and Digital Journalism in Central Asia project implemented by IWPR with the financial support of the UK Government. The content of the article does not reflect the official position of the IWPR, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the Government of the United Kingdom.