A resident stands devastated in an earthquake-stricken area in Antakya, Hatay, southern Turkey, on the 14th (local time), the 9th day after the earthquake in Turkey. Antakya (Turkiye)｜Reporter Moon Jae-won
As waves of condolences and donations continue around the world for the earthquakes that occurred in Turkey and Syria, online scams exploiting them are taking place everywhere. After collecting donations through social networking services (SNS) such as TikTok and Twitter, they defraud money into their Internet bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets.
According to the BBC on the 14th (local time), scams using the ability to convert gifts received from live broadcasts into cash are rampant on TikTok.
These fraudulent accounts show people devastated by the earthquake, pictures of victims, and rescues, soliciting donations. In the broadcast subtitles, phrases such as “Let’s help Turkiye,” “Let’s pray for Turkiye,” and “Donate for earthquake victims” appear constantly.
One live broadcasting account shows a picture of a child crying and running away from the site of the explosion and pleads, “Please help me reach the target amount.” However, the photo used in the video is not the scene of this earthquake, but the photo used in 2018 with the phrase “Stop the Afrin massacre”. The poster was created to criticize the military operation in Afrin, Syria, in which Turkish forces drove out Kurdish militias.
Regarding this, TikTok said, “We express our deep condolences for the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and are supporting relief efforts.” revealed
A post on Twitter to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Turkiye. The photo posted in the post is a fake photo created through artificial intelligence (AI). Twitter.
Earthquake donation fraud continues on Twitter. One Twitter account raised donations by posting a photo of a firefighter holding a child among collapsed buildings. This account appealed for donations by posting the same post 8 times in 12 hours.
However, it turned out that this was not a real photo, but a fake photo created through artificial intelligence (AI) software. In addition, one of the cryptocurrency wallet addresses written in the post was the same address used in scam and spam posts since 2018.
Cybersecurity expert Ax Sharma said scammers try to get noticed by retweeting news articles or tweeting celebrities and businesses. collect,” he said.
Twitter account @TurkeyRelief (Turkey Relief), which joined Twitter about a month ago and has just 31 followers, has been collecting donations via PayPal since the earthquake in Turkey. The account has so far received donations of $900 (about 1.14 million won), of which $500 (about 630,000 won) was sent by itself. Regarding this, Sharma analyzed, “It is to make the fundraising look authentic.”
Fundraising for Turkiye posted on Paypal. PayPal site.
Sharma said that PayPal has stopped operating services in Turkiye since 2016, and that you should be especially careful with PayPal accounts that are said to be in Turkiye. “There may be real charities outside of Turkey that use PayPal, but if they say they are in Turkey, that is a red flag,” he said.
PayPal said it has now suspended all of these fraudulent accounts and said, “We will conduct a thorough investigation of (suspected fraudulent) accounts to ensure that donations are used for their intended purpose.”