Profiteers from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Security experts have cautioned that con artists are attempting to con people into donating to fictitious causes by utilising the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
These con games allegedly aim to raise money for those who have survived tragedies that have killed more than 35,000 people yet left them without heat or water.
Scammers are diverting donations away from legitimate charities and into their own PayPal accounts and bitcoin wallets, however, instead of assisting those in need.
We’ve outlined some of the common scammers’ techniques as well as resources you may utilise to confirm everything before giving.
Content producers on TikTok Live can earn money by accepting digital gifts. In order to raise money, TikTok accounts are now broadcasting images of the destruction along with looped video and recordings of TVs depicting rescue operations.
“Let’s support Turkey,” “Pray for Turkey,” and “Donate for earthquake victims” are among the captions.
One account, which was active for more than three hours, displayed pixelated aerial footage of demolished buildings along with explosive sound effects. A man voice speaking in Chinese and laughing is heard off-camera. The caption of the video is “Help Turkey out. Donation.
However, the image used is a fake. According to the Greek daily OEMA.
Additionally, a cryptocurrency wallet address from 2018 had been utilised in spam and scam tweets. On the Russian social media platform VK, the alternate address had been published alongside pornographic material.
The person tweeting the appeal denied it was a scam when the BBC contacted them. Despite claiming to have bad connectivity, they used Google Translate to respond to our inquiries on Twitter.
If I can raise enough money, my goal is to be able to assist earthquake victims, they declared. “Now people are cold in the disaster area, and especially babies do not have food. I have receipts to back up this process.”
They haven’t yet provided us with any receipts or identification documentation, though.
