"Fraudsters, they're opportunistic criminals," Mason Wilder, a research director of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, said in a phone call. If the photo shows up in other, older fundraisers then that is a significant red flag. Wilder recommended the reverse image search engines TinEye, Yandex and Google Images, which we also reference in our explainer on how to perform a reverse image search. Bhupendra Acharya, a computer science professor at the University of Louisiana who researches cybercrime and fraudulent crowdfunding campaigns , recommended VirusTotal. Trust your gutWhile these tips can help separate fact from fraud, there is no single, concrete way to determine the legitimacy of many crowdfunding campaigns.

Source: The Guardian February 22, 2026 12:02 UTC