How we check
After 17 October, fundraisers were opened in the names of shop owners who had asked for nothing. A fake link sends the money to a scammer: we publish less, but we publish right.
Two levels, nothing else
The owner started the fundraiser themselves, or shares it on their own channels (their Instagram account, website, Google listing, shop window), or a news outlet quotes them confirming it.
A recognized news outlet presents the fundraiser and names its organizer (neighbors, family, customers), with no direct confirmation from the owner so far.
Everything else is left out: anonymous organizer, owner who denies it, fundraiser seen only on social media.
What we check, for every page
- That the shop exists and was actually hit, with at least one public source.
- Who created the fundraiser, and their link to the owner.
- That the link really leads to the platform (Leetchi, Le Pot Commun, GoFundMe, HelloAsso), not to a copy.
- The amount raised, read by hand and dated. It moves fast: the platform's figure is the one that counts.
- Whether it is an independent, a franchise or a chain store, so you can choose who to help.
Rideau does not collect money and takes no commission. Every “Give” button leads straight to the fundraiser. The platforms verify the beneficiary's identity before paying out the funds.
Spotting a fake fundraiser
- The owner does not share it anywhere on their own accounts.
- The organizer uses a pseudonym, with no explained link to the shop.
- There are several for the same shop, opened by strangers.
- The link arrives by private message, or leads to a page imitating a well-known platform.
When in doubt, the best support is still to go there, buy something, and ask the owner how to help.
If you think you have been scammed
- Report the fundraiser to the platform hosting it and ask for the funds to be frozen.
- Report it on Pharos, the French Interior Ministry's reporting platform.
- File a complaint online, at a police station or with the gendarmerie, with screenshots and proof of your donation.
- And tell us: report a suspicious fundraiser.