Fraudulent relief appeals surface within 48 hours of every Nepali disaster, because that is when generosity is highest and checking is lowest. Here is exactly how each one works, the single tell that exposes it, and where to report it.
Nepal Police and financial authorities have publicly urged the public to be vigilant about scams exploiting the Rasuwa flood, and to avoid unauthorised collections raised in its name. The pattern is well documented: fraudulent appeals appear within the first 48 to 72 hours of a disaster, while attention is highest and scrutiny lowest. More than 20,500 cybercrime complaints were registered with the Nepal Police Cyber Bureau in FY 2025/26, around 56 a day, and disaster fundraising is a recurring vector.
These are not hypothetical categories. Each has run in Nepal, and each will run again on the next disaster.
A real relief organisation's logo, wording and photographs are copied onto a new page or post, with one thing changed: the account number. Because everything else checks out, the reader trusts the digits.
The tell: Compare the receiving account against the organisation's own website. The copied text will be identical; the destination will not be.
A QR image circulates on Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp captioned as the official relief QR. Nobody can read a QR by eye, so nobody notices it resolves to a personal wallet.
The tell: Scan it and read the destination name that your app displays before confirming. If the name is not the institution, it is not the institution.
Families of the missing are approached with offers to locate a relative, expedite a helicopter, or access a list, for a fee. This is the cruellest variant because it targets people who cannot afford to be sceptical.
The tell: No genuine rescue or tracing service charges families. Nepal Police charged 32 people over a fake rescue scam in March 2026. Route all tracing through the police, the district administration or the Red Cross tracing service, all free.
Photographs of real named victims and survivors, lifted from news coverage, are used to front a personal fundraiser run by someone with no connection to them.
The tell: A named family's genuine appeal is normally routed through their ward office, a district chapter or a known local organisation, not through a stranger's personal account.
A caller claims to be from a ministry, the NDRRMA or a bank, and asks for OTP, card details or a 'processing fee' to release relief money to a survivor.
The tell: No government office in Nepal asks for an OTP. Relief entitlements are never released on payment of a fee.
Open the organisation's own website by typing its address, or go through the government portal directly. Never start from a link in a forwarded WhatsApp or Viber message, a Facebook comment, or a QR image someone sent you.
Before confirming a transfer, your bank shows the registered name of the receiving account. For an official appeal it must read as a government office or a registered organisation. If it shows an individual's name, stop.
eSewa, Khalti and IME Pay personal wallet numbers are not how the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund or the Nepal Red Cross collect money. Institutional collection runs through bank accounts and the official portal.
Real relief funds stay open for months. Urgency is the core technique of the disaster scam, because it stops you checking. 'Send tonight', 'matching ends in one hour' and 'only 20 spots to sponsor a family' are all pressure devices.
For a page or an individual you have not heard of, look for the organisation in Nepal's Social Welfare Council register, or ask for its registration number and check it. A genuine INGO or NGO will supply it without argument. For crowdfunding pages, check whether the organiser is named and whether prior campaigns exist.
If you have been targeted, or you have found a fake appeal, report it. Reporting a live scam page while a disaster is running protects people you will never meet.
Report online fraud and fake fundraising pages. Complaints can be filed in person at the Bureau in Bhotahiti or through the Nepal Police online complaint route.
100, for an in-progress crime.
If you have already transferred money, call your bank immediately and ask for a recall on the transaction. Speed matters more than anything else here.
Report the post or page to Facebook, TikTok or the crowdfunding platform directly. Platforms remove disaster-fraud content faster than almost any other category.
One thing worth saying plainly: Amarnepal runs no fundraiser, for this disaster or any other, and we take no commission from anything listed on this site. If you encounter a collection using our name, it is not us, and we would be grateful if you reported it.
Within the first 48 to 72 hours, while public attention is at its peak and scrutiny at its lowest. This is consistent across disasters and is why the window immediately after an event is the most dangerous time to donate from a forwarded message.
No. Nobody can read a QR code by eye, which is exactly why swapped QR images are one of the most effective disaster scams. Scan it if you like, but read the destination account name your payment app displays before confirming. If that name is not the institution you intended to pay, stop.
Never. No government office in Nepal asks for a one-time password, and relief entitlements are never released on payment of a processing fee. A caller claiming to be from a ministry, the NDRRMA or a bank who asks for either is running a scam.
The Nepal Police Cyber Bureau handles online fraud and fake fundraising pages, with complaints accepted in person at the Bureau in Bhotahiti or through the Nepal Police online complaint route. Report the post to the platform as well, since Facebook, TikTok and crowdfunding sites remove disaster-fraud content quickly. If you have already transferred money, call your bank immediately and ask for a recall.
Yes. Nepal Police charged 32 people over a fake rescue scam in March 2026. More than 20,500 cybercrime complaints were registered with the Cyber Bureau in FY 2025/26, roughly 56 a day, and disaster fundraising is a recurring vector within that total.
This guide is written to outlast any single disaster. The patterns are drawn from documented Nepali cases and from official warnings issued by Nepal Police and financial authorities.