It is now easy to detect past behavior of institutions by doing a search of the name of the institution together with the words "fraud" or "scam" and running this through a search engine.

I was taught this technique by a lawyer working on mortgage foreclosure matter when I had a query on a certain "mortgage solution company", which describes itself as a consumer advocacy and consumer mortgage due diligence firms. In the proposed agreement with this company, the company will review the Loan and Mortgage documents and will attempt to obtain a "monetary refund/remediation settlement".

I imagine that this technique can be used to check past behavior of NGOs. For instance, if a potential donor performs this search on Coeur Joyeux (cached copy of their site, but at present leading to this site), a non-governmental organization operating in Rwanda, the potential donor will be alerted to reports of this NGO being alleged to have scammed Rwandan orphans of their savings based on promises of scholarships to private universities.

-- AllanOng - 13 May 2010