The BBC reported on the 14th (local time) that online fraudsters are rampant to profit from the earthquake damage in Turkey and Syria.
According to the report, there are many accounts on Twitter and TikTok recently requesting support by posting the phrases “Please help Turkey,” “Pray for Turkey,” and “Support earthquake victims” along with images that evoke sadness. , They say there is no way to know who the owner of this account is or where the donations are being spent.
One TikTok account broadcast live for three hours, playing looped explosions accompanied by aerial photos of collapsed buildings. Outside the camera, the voice of a man talking in Chinese and laughing could be heard. In the video, “Let’s help Turkiye. It says “Donate”.
Another video shows a child running away screaming from an explosion. The publisher sent a message saying, “Please help me reach this goal.” However, the picture in question was not a picture of this earthquake. It was posted on Twitter in 2018 with the phrase “Stop the Afrin massacre.”
The BBC pointed out that it is also a problem that 70% of the profits go to TikTok as fees. However, TikTok said that the fee is less than that. TikTok told the BBC it was “doing its best to prevent fraud and deception of users who want to help.”
Posts encouraging donations by attaching a link to a cryptocurrency account to a photo that stimulates emotions are also being posted on Twitter.
One Twitter account posted a picture of a firefighter holding a child among the rubble of a building and appealed for donations eight times in 12 hours. In addition, it was found that the cryptocurrency account address attached to the post was also used in a scam spam tweet in 2018.
However, the user who wrote the post insisted to the BBC that it was not a scam and was “trying to help earthquake victims through fundraising.”
A number of accounts have been found that induce donations by creating fake accounts on PayPal. A prime example is the account @TurkeyRelief, which was found to have raised $900 (approximately 1.14 million won). PayPal suspended the account.
It is known that there are more than 100 PayPal fundraising accounts. Ax Sharma of Sonatype, a global security company, said, “There are people who raise money with good intentions, but those who want to use it inevitably come out.” You have to be careful of accounts that say there is,” he warned.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.