Fake grants and funding scams are costing community organisations real money across East Africa. This free tool helps you check an offer in a few minutes, understand the tricks scammers use, and report suspicious offers so others can be warned.
Scam Shield is new, and it gets better with your input. If a question felt unclear, something didn't work, or you have an idea for what's missing, we'd like to hear it.
Share FeedbackWhy this exists: In March 2026, Tanzania's NGO coordination council confirmed an advance-fee scam run under a fake fund name, traced to fraudsters based in Kenya. Separately, over 100 Kenyan CBOs lost real money to a fake donor scheme that promised to unlock funding in exchange for upfront payments. These scams are active. They specifically target organisations like yours: small, hopeful, and often working with limited legal or financial support.
Amani Roots, a small youth mentorship CBO in Nairobi County, got an email congratulating them on being "selected" for a KES 900,000 grant, with no application needed. Excited, and facing a 48-hour deadline, the team paid a KES 15,000 "clearance fee" to release the funds. The foundation didn't exist. The money had been pulled from savings set aside for an upcoming mentorship camp, and it was never seen again.
Illustrative example reflecting a common regional scam pattern. It is not an account of a specific real organisation.
Most fake grants follow a small set of tricks, showing up in the message itself, in links, and in attached documents. Once you can spot them, they lose their power. We'll keep the language plain, with no jargon.
A message says your organisation was hand-picked for a grant, but you never applied for anything. Real funders publish open calls. They almost never search out unknown groups on their own.
The name shown might read "UN Grants Office," but the real address underneath is a random free account. Always check the full email address, not just the name displayed.
A link looks almost identical to the real one, with one letter changed, a hyphen added or missing, or a different ending. Compare it letter by letter before you trust it.
You're asked for a small fee, labelled "processing," "clearance," "courier," or "tax," before any money is sent to you. Real grants are never released this way. Money should only ever flow toward your organisation, never away from it.
You're told to reply within 24 or 48 hours or lose the offer forever. Urgency is used deliberately to stop you from checking things calmly.
A shortened or disguised link hides where it really leads. On a computer, hover your mouse over a link without clicking, and the real address appears at the bottom of your screen. On a phone, press and hold the link to preview it.
An attached Word or Excel file asks you to click "Enable Content" or "Enable Editing" to see grant details. Doing this can let harmful software run quietly on your computer. Be cautious of any document that asks for this before you've verified the sender.
Partway through, a new "verification agent," "lawyer," or "clearing house" appears, asking for a fee to release your funds. This second character is invented purely to extract more money from you.
You're asked to move the whole conversation to a personal WhatsApp number instead of an official email or office line. This avoids any paper trail that could later prove what was promised.
The part of a web address or email after the "@" or "www.", for example radi-share.co.ke. Scammers use addresses that look almost right but aren't, hoping you won't look closely.
A message designed to trick you into giving away passwords, bank details, or one-time codes by pretending to be from someone trustworthy, such as a bank, a donor, or a government office.
Any request to pay money before you receive a promised grant, prize, or service. If you're told to pay first in order to get money later, treat it as fake, almost without exception.
Making a message look like it comes from someone it doesn't. For example, the sender's display name might show a trusted organisation while the real email address underneath is completely different.
A person or company that suddenly appears partway through a grant process, asking for payment to "clear," "release," or "verify" your funds. Genuine funders never require one.
A web address built to resemble a real one at a glance, using tricks like an extra hyphen, a swapped letter, or a different ending such as ".net" instead of ".org".
Answer a set of questions about the offer you received, organised into five short groups. Skip anything that doesn't apply to your situation. We'll calculate a Fraud Risk Score and tell you exactly what to do next. No sign-up or email is required to use it.
Have the message, email, or application in front of you if you can. The questions are grouped into five short sections. Answer honestly, and skip anything that doesn't apply. There are no wrong answers, only useful ones.
Report anything suspicious, not just an offer sent directly to you. A shady grant advert on social media, a fake-looking website, a suspicious post in a WhatsApp group, or a message that landed in your inbox all count. Radishare and RCNK review every report. When one is confirmed, we publish a public alert to warn other organisations across the region.
Thank you. Your report has gone by email to the Radishare / RCNK team, and they will review it. A copy is shown below for your records.
Shown in plain text above for easy copying. You can also share it with the team on WhatsApp, which adds bold section headers automatically.
If you've already sent money or shared banking details, contact your bank or mobile money provider immediately to try to stop or reverse the transaction, then report the incident to your local cybercrime authority as soon as possible.
This tool is built to protect you. That includes protecting the information you share with it.
The Scam Checker above collects nothing. Your answers stay in your browser and disappear the moment you leave the page. The Report form only collects what you choose to type in: your contact details, organisation, and what you encountered. It's used only to verify your report and, where confirmed, to publish an alert that is either anonymised or attributed, based on your choice above.
Personal data shared through this tool is handled in line with Kenya's Data Protection Act, 2019 (No. 24 of 2019). The Act was enacted to give effect to Article 31(c) and (d) of the Constitution of Kenya, and it's enforced by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC). To exercise any of the rights above, or to ask a question about how your data is handled, email privacy@radi-share.co.ke. Learn more at odpc.go.ke.
Scam Shield is new, and it gets better with your input. If a question felt unclear, something didn't work, or you have an idea for what's missing, we'd like to hear it.
Share FeedbackShare this tool with your network so more organisations can check offers before they lose money, time, or trust. Awareness spreads faster than scammers can adapt.