Yeah, but they SENT the link. That was the initiation.

I see your position, but I don't view placing an ad as an initiation. He still initiated the conversation by clicking on the ad like he would've if he had called a phone number or anything else and therefore could still have been scammed.

When I'm curious about something that I might have to click through, I DDG it and find source material. It's not overly paranoid, it's been good advice for decades.

Telephone charity calls are exactly the same way in my world, and started me down that handling path. If I look your org up and you look legit, and I'm interested, we'll see. You having called me isn't always strike one, but it often is.

Legitimate organizations are not always a safe bet either. For instance, today I received a phone call supposedly from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation soliciting donations. The organization itself is legit, and the number they appear to be calling from could also be legit, but the number they're calling from could be spoofed.

Personally, I prefer to follow the OP's advice, and only provide information if I initiate the call. Or, more specifically, I'm willing to provide only the information you could find in a phone book, such as name, phone number, and address, and if they truly want my donation, they can mail me something for the request. Still, it could result in mail fraud, but the likelihood is pretty low at that point.