How Charity Scams Target People’s Generosity Amid Russia–Ukraine War?

Ranya Turki | 2 years ago

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Fundraising has become the scammers' best occasion to take advantage of the benefactors and trick them out of their money.

Many online scammers take whatever is happening in society and turn it into an opportunity to scam people as they did during the coronavirus pandemic, and now amid the Russia–Ukraine conflict.

People in Britain, the US, as well as several other European countries were the most affected by the scams.

An investigation by BBC unveiled online scammers pretending to be charities collecting money for Ukrainians.

The tricks came shortly after the Ukrainian government announced Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrency donations are accepted, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

 

Fake Charity Websites

A recent investigation By BBC has revealed hundreds of fake charity websites that have been used by online scammers to trick people who wanted to donate to Ukrainians after the Russian invasion of the country.

Through the branding of charities such as Save the Children, fake sites have been created by some scammers pretending to be getting equipment to soldiers on the front line.

One of the leaders of these charities has called the practice “awful” and said the fake websites were taking money from children in need around the world.

The BBC investigation “identified a bogus site, calling itself Save Life Direct—which claimed to have raised $100,000 (£80,000)—was registered to a man based in Abuja, in Nigeria.”

When he was traced he allegedly said he was sending donations to his friend in western Ukraine.

Later, he admitted he hadn't raised $100,000 at all and he said he would give proof about the site's credibility but he did not, he rather took it down a day later.

 

Hundreds of Fake Sites

Emotionally-charged language is usually the best tool used by the scammers while pretending to be real people in Ukraine who are in urgent need of help.

One misleading site had used the details of a real organization that raises money for the Ukrainian military and put up another address, controlled by the scammers, to receive the money sent.

Not only that, the site had even used the real Facebook profiles of genuine Ukrainian fundraisers, “including one belonging to Tanya Tarasevich - whose job is to get supplies to fighters on the front line,” according to the investigation.

Tanya Tarasevich was one of the victims whose profile was used by scammers; she said that the exploitation of the war is definitely a “crime,” and that she was shocked by such actions: “It's the worst thing you can do to a person when in your country little children are dying and your country is all on fire. It's a crime.”

In fact, there were hundreds of fake sites with a “high degree of success,”

as declared by the expert in online scams, Jack Whittaker, showing a "high degree of success.”

According to the expert’s research, scammers are always looking for a new opportunity, and they never give up.

“They simply have the TV on and they look for the next big thing that they can attach themselves to, in this case, the perfect opportunity was the Ukrainian crisis.”

The logos and branding of Save the Children charity had been stolen to create a fake website under the name of the real one.

One of the charity’s members said that the “generosity of the British public is being taken advantage of,” adding that “there's also the children, who we work with around the world, who are not going to get the support they need.”

 

How to Avoid

The best way to guard against this kind of attack is to follow good cyber hygiene habits. Those who donate should check links before clicking and verifying attachments before the download.

According to the Straits Times, people should check suspicious e-mails that seem urgent, in addition to e-mails from unfamiliar senders who present themselves as legitimate people or reputable organizations.

Those who will donate should also check that the e-mails asking for donations are from the official organizations they claim to be before donating.

Fake fundraisers target people through phone, email, and through fake charity websites as well.

Brad Hong, virtual chief information security officer at cybersecurity startup Horizon3.ai, said that according to many reports, “there are thousands of Ukrainian-related domains that were registered shortly after the war began. Some of them may be genuine attempts to fundraise; many are surely not.”

“The best way to avoid the scams is to donate to reputable charities instead of any self-proclaimed donation websites,” Hong added.

Thousands of hacked pages on social media have been identified by cybersecurity group Bitdefender, in March 2022.

Director of Threat Research and Reporting, Bogdan Botezatu, said: “We have identified thousands of hacked social media accounts that have been hacked or used for social media accounts that have been specifically set up for fraud.”

“You may end up funding who knows what, like work or like terrorism, people trafficking, and so on,” Botezatu added.