Fraud Alert: Criminals Test Stolen Credit-Card Numbers on Charity Websites

Criminals are using poorly protected charity websites to test the validity of stolen credit-card numbers, costing some groups thousands of dollars, cybersecurity experts said this week. Simplified online donation pages make it easy for people to give—but also serve as prime testing ground for credit-card thieves.

"There’s a giant target painted on the industry’s back that is very advantageous for credit-card thieves," said Kevin Conroy, chief product officer at GlobalGiving.

Although not a new problem, it is now "near universal," said Matt Holford, chief technology officer at DoSomething.org.