Scammers are taking advantage of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria to try to trick people into donating to bogus causes, security experts warn.
These scams aim to raise money for survivors, who have been left without heat or water after the catastrophe that has killed more than 35,000 people.
But instead of helping those in need, scammers are diverting donations from real charities into their own PayPal accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.
We’ve identified some of the top methods used by scammers, as well as tools you can use to double-check before donating.
On TikTok Live, content creators can earn money by receiving digital gifts.
Now, TikTok accounts are posting photos of the devastation, looping footage and TV recordings showing the rescue efforts, while asking for donations.
Captions include phrases like “Let’s help Turkey,” “Pray for Turkey,” and “Donate for earthquake victims.”
One of the accounts, which was live for more than three hours, showed a pixelated aerial image of destroyed buildings, accompanied by sound effects of explosions.
Off camera, a male voice laughs and speaks in Chinese. The caption of the video is “Let’s help Turkey. Donation.”
Another video shows the image of a distraught child running from an explosion. The presenter’s message is “Please help achieve this goal”, an apparent request for donations on TikTok.
But the photo of the boy is not from last week’s earthquakes.
A reverse image search found that the same image had been posted on Twitter in 2018 with the caption “Stop the Afrin genocide,” referring to a city in northwestern Syria where Turkish forces and their allies in the Syrian opposition ousted to a Kurdish militia that year.
Another caveat about donations on TikTok: A BBC investigation found that TikTok takes up to 70% of revenue from digital donations, though the platform claims it takes less than that.
A TikTok spokesperson told the BBC: “We are deeply saddened by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and are doing our part to help earthquake relief efforts.” “We are also actively working to prevent people from scamming and misleading community members who want to help.”
A fake image to scam
On Twitter, people are sharing emotional images alongside links to cryptocurrency wallets asking for donations.
One account posted the same appeal eight times in 12 hours, with an image of a firefighter holding a toddler between collapsed buildings.
The image used, however, is not real. The Greek newspaper OEMA reports that it was created by the Major General of the Aegean Fire Brigade, Panagiotis Kotridis, with the use of the Midjourney Artificial Intelligence software.
AI imagers often make mistakes, and it didn’t take long for Twitter users to realize that this firefighter has six fingers on his right hand.
To test this, we asked our colleagues at the BBC’s Blue Room technology research center to try to generate similar images using the same software.
They asked the software for an “image of a firefighter after an earthquake rescuing a child and wearing a helmet with the Greek flag on it,” and were given the following options:
One of the crypto wallet addresses had been used in scam and spam tweets in 2018. The other address had been posted on the Russian social network VK, along with pornographic content.
When the BBC contacted the person who tweeted the call, they denied it was a scam. They said they had a poor connection to talk, but they responded to our questions on Twitter using Google Translate.
“My goal is to be able to help the people affected by the earthquake if I can raise funds,” they said. “Now people are cold in the disaster zone, and especially the babies have no food. I can demonstrate this process with receipts.”
However, they have not yet sent us receipts or proof of their identity.
Elsewhere on Twitter, scammers create fake accounts to raise funds and post links to PayPal.
Ax Sharma, a cybersecurity expert at Sonatype, says these accounts retweet news articles and reply to tweets from celebrities and businesses to gain visibility.
“They create fake disaster relief accounts that appear to be from legitimate organizations or media, but then send funds to their own PayPal addresses,” he told the BBC.
One example is @TurkeyRelief, who joined Twitter in January, has just 31 followers, and solicits donations through PayPal.
The PayPal account has so far received $900 in donations. But that includes $500 from the page creator, which he donated to his own cause.
Sharma says this is “so the fundraiser looks authentic.”
This is one of more than 100 fundraising campaigns launched on PayPal in recent days in support of those affected by the earthquakes, some of which are fake.
Sharma says donors should be especially wary of accounts claiming to be in Turkey, because PayPal has not operated in Turkey since 2016.
“There are real charities outside of Turkey that use PayPal, but when these fundraisers say they are in Turkey, that’s a red flag,” he says.
Another thing to watch out for is anonymous donations and calls that have raised small amounts.
According to Sharma, you would expect real charities to have “significant funds,” but many of those that raise funds through PayPal have less than $100.
PayPal suspended the fraudulent account. A company spokesperson told the BBC: “While the vast majority of people who use PayPal to accept donations have the best intentions, there are inevitably some who try to take advantage of the charitable nature and generosity of others.”
“PayPal teams are always working to scrutinize and ban accounts, especially in the wake of events like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, so that donations go to intended causes.”
Twitter has also suspended @TurkeyRelief, but the company did not respond to requests for comment.
How to avoid scams and donate safely:
- Look up charities on your national register of charities, such as the UK charity register or the IRS in the US.
- If you suspect a scam, report it to the authorities or to the social media platform.
- Emotive language, photos and videos are used to strike a chord.
- Some scams claim to be affiliated with real governments or charities. If you want to donate to that charity or government organization, find their website and donate directly.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-64633580, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-02-14 10:50:07
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