Practical guides · Treatment and donors
Fake donor, fake clinic: how to spot a scam
When you look for a donor, a co-parent or a fertility clinic online, you can meet people who only want your money. Their methods are the same everywhere. If you know them, you are already safer.
Warning signs
- He asks for money, for any reason: a ticket, a test, a visa, “legal fees”, a “handling fee”.
- He always has a reason not to do a video call, or the meeting never happens.
- He wants to move very fast, or says he loves you very soon.
- Everything is urgent. You never have time to think or to ask someone.
- He sends test results only as a photo or a PDF, from a lab you cannot call.
- An agent or a clinic wants a large payment first, before you have seen a doctor or a contract.
- He starts talking about an investment, a trading app or cryptocurrency.
The methods that are documented
The fake “donor wanted” advert. An advert on social media says a rich woman wants a sperm donor and will pay a reward. Then come the fees: air tickets, “protection”, legal fees. The victim never meets the woman, and she always refuses a video call. In Malaysia, a retired man lost about RM161,000 this way in 2025. Another man paid RM1,000, then RM24,000, for a promised RM300,000. The cases we found target men. The same method can be turned round, with a “donor” who asks a woman for travel or test fees. We found no press report of this in these eight countries, but the warning signs are the same.
The fake donor profile. Photos are stolen or made by a computer. The man may not be who he says, and his sperm may never have been tested. The UK fertility regulator (HFEA) warned in 2026 about donor offers on social media that do not lead to a licensed clinic.
Advance fees for clinics and agents. An “agent” promises treatment or a baby, takes a large fee, then stops replying, or worse. In Hyderabad, India, police say a fertility centre took ₹20 to 40 lakh from couples for IVF or surrogacy, then gave them babies bought from poor women. A DNA test showed one child was not the couple’s. By August 2025, 25 people had been arrested, including four doctors. The centre’s registration had already been cancelled, but it kept working.
The fake job offer. Some adverts offer well-paid “surrogacy” or egg donation work abroad. In 2025, three women from Thailand were rescued abroad: their passports had been taken and their eggs collected every month. In Cambodia, in 2024, 13 women recruited as surrogates were themselves convicted under the anti-trafficking law. In some countries, the woman herself can be prosecuted.
The fake test report. In Delhi, a fake laboratory with no machines issued more than 23,000 reports in one year (2018). In Chandigarh, police seized about 1,600 fake reports. A report on paper or on a screen proves nothing until you check it with the lab.
Romance, then money. Large scam operations in the region build trust over weeks, often through a person who was himself trafficked into the work. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates they take just under US$40 billion a year. For you, it can look like a “donor” or “co-parent” who is kind for weeks, then has an emergency, or an investment to share.
Sextortion. A stranger moves the talk to a video call, records nudity or takes a screenshot, then asks for money. Paying usually brings more demands. In Malaysia, in November 2025, a man paid RM9,000, and police treated it as extortion under section 384 of the Penal Code. Sometimes a second caller pretends to be the police and asks for a “removal fee”. Do not pay. Keep the evidence and report it.
Safe habits
- Talk on a live video call before anything else. A face that talks with you is much harder to fake than a photo.
- Search his photos. A reverse image search shows if a photo appears somewhere else, under another name.
- Ask for dated lab reports, and check them. Find the lab’s number yourself, call it, and give the report number. Do not use the number printed on the paper. See tests to ask a donor for.
- Never pay a stranger. Not for a ticket, a test, a fee or an emergency.
- Check a clinic. In India, a fertility clinic or sperm bank must be registered under the ART (Regulation) Act 2021. Ask for its registration and check it.
- Do not send intimate photos or videos, or your documents, before you have decided.
- Meet the first time in a public place, and tell a friend where you are. Talk to someone you trust: they often see what you cannot.
Where to report
First, if you have paid: call your bank or e-wallet at once and ask them to stop the transfer. Keep screenshots, profile links, account numbers and transaction numbers. Report the profile to the app or the social network.
- India: call the cyber crime helpline 1930, or report at cybercrime.gov.in. This covers money lost and sextortion. For a suspect call or message, with no money lost yet, use Chakshu on sancharsaathi.gov.in.
- Malaysia: call the National Scam Response Centre on 997, open 24 hours, within 24 hours of losing money. To be safe, also make a police report.
- Thailand: call the Anti Online Scam Operation Center on 1441, open 24 hours. It can freeze accounts fast.
- Laos: call the Anti-Online Fraud Centre on 1533, opened in December 2025.
- Indonesia: for money lost, ask your bank to report it to the Indonesia Anti-Scam Centre of the financial regulator (OJK), which can block accounts. Then make a report at a police station.
- Vietnam: we found no national scam line we could confirm. Go to your local police station.
- Cambodia: we found no national scam hotline. The National Police began testing an app, Kapea Scams, in August 2026. You can also go to the police.
- Myanmar: we found no official reporting channel we could confirm. Tell your bank and report the profile to the platform.
Checked October 2026. Numbers and services change: check the current details in your country.
How this site works
He never asks for money, with either option. He only contacts you on the WhatsApp, WeChat or email you gave him. If anyone asks you for money in his name, it is not him. His test results on this site carry dates, and you see the full reports after your video calls. See questions and answers.
Sources
- The Star, retiree swindled in a sperm donor scam, 6 June 2025; New Straits Times, online sperm donation scam, September 2024.
- Rainbow Radio, reporting a warning from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), 8 June 2026.
- The News Minute and The South First, Hyderabad fertility centre case, July and August 2025.
- Bangkok Post and OC Media, women rescued from forced egg harvesting, February 2025; AP via ABC News, Cambodia surrogates convicted, December 2024.
- Medical Dialogues, fake pathology lab in Delhi, 2018; The Tribune, fake lab reports in Chandigarh.
- UNODC, Inflection Point report, April 2025 (via AP and ThaiCERT).
- The Vibes, sextortion case in Gombak, November 2025; The Tribune, fake police calls after sextortion.
- India: Sanchar Saathi (Department of Telecommunications), 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in; Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021, section 15.
- Malaysia: MyGOV portal, NSRC 997 hotline; Bernama, July 2025.
- Thailand: Government Public Relations Department, AOC 1441.
- Laos: KPL Lao News Agency and Vientiane Times, hotline 1533, December 2025.
- Indonesia: Kontan and Investortrust, Indonesia Anti-Scam Centre, 2025.
- Cambodia: Cambodianess, Kapea Scams app, August 2026.
A real donor or co-parent is happy to talk by video, shows you dated results, and never needs your money. See Option B and Option A.