#aid scam

[staticespace]

Hi sorry for burging in . I need your helping Please if you can be able to extend a hand for me,that would be much appreciate. I'm $800,needed pls🙏 . I need to save my blood sugar which costs $300.and also to afford living expenses.food,gas and medication which costs$500. I plead for your little donations. I'll really appreciate your help❤️please help me with your little donation or share🙏

I will not donate. But I will share.

Not to advise others to donate, though. Because I think you're lying.

Your request doesn't really pass the smell test for me.

🚩Red Flags🚩:

You say on your page that your request is "vetted and verified" but do not say by whom.

Your tags start with "free palestine" despite your request having nothing to do with Palestine or Palestinians. This makes me think you're trying to get people who want to donate to Palestinians to think you're one so they can donate and/or spread your post if they don't read any deeper into your account.

Adding to that, looking into your archive, you only recently started your account this month (September 2024) and all of your posts closest to your start were about Palestine. It seems you're putting a mask on.

As of today (September 29th) only 3 of your 29 posts are from a date that is not September 25th, so it's not as though you're particularly active.

Your other tags on your pinned post have nothing to do with the topic of your post, meaning you're clogging other tags to get someone to bite (e.g. "artists on tumblr" and "succession").

The link you provided goes to a PayPal account, which does not have many protections for anyone who donates money on its platform, like reimbursement and such.

In case I was wrong, I reverse-image-searched your icon photo and...

Well, well, well...

Same photo, same script, different account.

This naming trend on your old account is very familiar, too. Three words smushed together, usually starting with an adjective. Hell, you might be related to the other person I found out was scamming using insulin requests.

And when I tried to find that account, it's apparently been closed.

So yeah, nah, you don't pass the smell test.

---

If you want to donate to Palestinians, here's some actual, verified ways to do so. The methods through that link have been backed by various frontrunners in the Palestinian sphere, like @/90-ghost and @/el-shab-hussein.

If you aren't going to look much further than the fact they sent a note to your inbox, please stop.

Look further and do your due diligence or rely on people who will do it for you.

Some scammers are not just trying to get money for food or a TV or something. Giving to a scammer may not be harmless.

Scammers can and have used false aid requests to fund human and drug trafficking.

Double-check. If it doesn't smell right, don't donate and call it out.

Also, feel free to report their PayPal account for fraud if you see their pinned post.

[owlkhemy]

So one of the fundraiser asks I answered yesterday was a known insulin scammer pretending to be a Palestinian person.

This is a particularly disgusting use of the crisis in Gaza as traction.

Shame on them.

Thank you so much for tagging me OP!

Hello this a long shot call, am a citizen of Palestine. I am here to request for your support to help get my insulin (Humalog), just an injection for today to save my life please I beg.I was diagnosized with type 1 diabetes and due to current situation in Gaza I'm unable to get my insulin injection as a result I'm here begging for little financial support to help me purchase insulin for this week, am having a balance of$168. Am sorry if am sending you again this request, kindly donate any amount please. My donation link is in my pinned post🇵🇸. Thank you and be blessed ❤️

THIS IS A KNOWN SCAM (SEE LINK HERE)

Funny seeing you here just two days after I warned a mutual about you :) I thought you recurring scammers had me pre-blocked after the last time I tagged every single soul I saw reblogging one of y'all's pinned posts. And you know what? I'll do it again. I don't care that it's 300+ people. You deigned to show your ass in my inbox, it would be rude not to answer appropriately!

IF YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED IN THIS POST:

1) don't be ashamed, it happens. I just ask that you kindly delete your reblog or edit it, and warn your followers

2) this is a known scam, they keep trying with new usernames. In general, the red flags here are: generated username (3 english words in a row), very low end goal (they're usually several thousands USD), Paypal (less protections), Humalog/insulin, they say they're vetted but not who vetted them, very recent blog with lots of reblogs of popular posts but unrelated to the topic.

Singularly they're not that weird, but if you see any of those elements you should be more wary and do some research before reblogging!

3) try to follow a scam buster, I follow @/kyra45 (or at least take note. She has some resources that can be useful to check every once in a while)

4) don't feel obligated to come and thank me or apologize for falling for it, that's a lot of you and only one of my inbox °v° it's ok, really, I get it. I've fallen for scams before, it's not your fault I swear

5) if you were tagged but never had anything to do with this scammer: I typed everything manually because it was faster, I may have made a mistake. Do contact me so I can mention the right person ^^"

Next day edit: got blocked, they graciously left another ask in my inbox so I'm adding some more people to my mentions list :3 please notice how they went overnight from magnificentdraginengineer - paypal name lavender namisi, to vallarysblog - paypal name vallary wanjala. They'll keep doing this so get familiar with the text of the ask instead of the name, it's going to serve you in the future

'Nother edit: changed url to loudduckcrown but paypal is still vallary wanjala

@judaswail @nothingventurednothinggained123 @sintribos @igothurtdoingsafetydance @freetobezii

[acepumpkinpatrick]

Not a scam!

I think by now most of you know about this but I am making my own post about it bc it's important.

A few days ago, a misunderstanding happened, and @malokamohamed & @mohameedibraheem got labeled as scam accounts that stole @supportgaza 's campaign.

That was NOT correct.

As I said, it was just a misunderstanding and yesterday I got in contact with @idocumentscammers @kyra45 @el-shab-hussein and gave them all needed evidence and even Mahmoud ( @/supportgaza ) himself verified that Mohammed ( @/mohameedibraheem ) is his brother & Malak ( @/malokamohamed ) is his sister-in-law. And that the 3 girls (Malek, Eleen, & Najah) are actually their daughters.

They were very quick to answer and made the necessary edits and announcement posts about it you can find here, here, and here. To which I am very grateful.

Thus, Mohammed & Malak's campaign is now verified #240 on this list by el-shab-hussein/Nabulsi/Moayesh , and I vouch for them personally.

Now I ask that you please share their story and donate if you can bc they're very low on funds!

And please notify anyone you know who still hasn't read the update!

Sorry for the tags ♡

@goodguydotmp3 @northgazaupdates2 @appsa @magnus-rhymes-with-swagness @wingedalpacacupcake @elksewer @a-shade-of-blue @tortiefrancis @mushroomjar @fromjannah @neechees @irhabiya @ibtisams @lacecap @dykesbat @socalgal @ankle-beez @mahoushojoe @transmutationisms @deepspaceboytoy @nabulsi @zionistsinfilm @beserkerjewel @babacontainsmultitudes @spacebeyonce @mauesartetc @vakarians-babe @ghostofanonpast @c-u-c-koo-4-40k @ot3 @xinakwans @komsomolka @chilewithcarnage @akamanto0 @feluka @effen-draws @pkmnbutch @ghostingarden @azalea-alter @sayruq

[tangledinink]

Hello sorry for tagging. I am very sick, my asthma is at its maximum level, my nose freezes, I have no medicine or food. I am in bad shape financially, I am a black disabled, who uses multiple medications, I pay for my food and lodging

Unfortunately I do not have all the resources to keep me safe, that is why I need your help, whatever you can contribute to me will be of great help.

Okay kids, are you ready for a lesson in SPOTTING ONLINE SCAMS????

*please don't message this person or harass them-- i do recommend that you report and block them, however.

right now it's incredibly important to give time, attention, and money to online fundraisers. but it's also incredibly important not to let scammers take advantage of that and steal money that could actually save lives right now.

firstly-- if we go to this person's blog, and navigate to "archive--"

this person's blog has only existed for a few days, only has a handful of generic posts (many reblogged multiple times,) and made their first reblog the same day that they posted their "fundraiser" post. this is a MASSIVE red flag.

please also note that neither their ask nor post actually mention palestine or gaza at all, but it's still tagged with "free palestine" and "gaza."

though this one should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, it is also worth noting the poor grammar here, because this can be (but isn't always!!!) another red flag. Note also that all the details are really vague and don't quite make sense... user describes "enduring cold" and their "nose freezing" though it's the middle of the summer. This user says that they're "sick," but doesn't really offer any further details about this. This user says that they need money for "resources," but don't elaborate on what exactly they need. They vaguely elude to a need for lodging, caretakers, and medicine, but don't actually give us any details-- despite this they have a "$1200" goal. What is this specific goal of $1200 for? Is that the cost of their medication? Overdue medical bills? Cost for rent this month?... They also apologize in their ask for "tagging" me... but they didn't tag me. They sent me an ask.

Another red flag is that their link labeled "Fundraiser link" leads directly to a Paypal donation page rather than a gofundme or anything else. If someone chooses to collect aid through paypal, venmo, etc. instead of through a gofundme, that's not a huge issue in and of itself... but it is fishy that it's mislabeled like this.

And if we GOOGLE this user's tumblr name or paypal name, we can find results like this:

This also led me to find them on @/kyra45's blog on their list of current scam accounts.

Despite all this, they have close to 100 reblogs from well-meaning people trying to signal boost and ask for donations on their behalf.

With the current situation in Palestine and the amount of actual, legitimate fundraisers and donations being circulated right now, for Palestine, Sudan, the Congo, or otherwise, it is more important than ever to be aware of people who are trying to take advantage of the situation for their own personal gain. Whenever possible, please take the time to do some due diligence when you receive messages like this and check to see if a fundraiser is legitimate! It always sucks for someone to be the victim of a scam and lose money to someone playing pretend on the internet... but it sucks even more when that money could have gone to people in actual, acute, dire need.

Here's some more information about spotting scams on tumblr! Shoutout to tumblr user kyra45 for compiling this, and for all the other hard work they do-- thanks.

Here's an actual, vetted, and legitimate campaign that could use your support. After receiving this ask, I went and donated. If you have the means to do so, it would be amazing if you did so, too.

[ see ALL gaza funds campaigns here ]

[evilcado]

Some tips on how to spot scammers‼️

These scams can be under the pretext for *getting medication*/*getting a group of people to a safer location* or whatever new variations that may pop up in the future!

Not all of these are telltale signs that the person is a scammer but just some things I have seen in common

1a. Their accounts are barely a week old and has liked nothing much but posts of people answering positively to their scams sent to your inbox

1b. Only liking/reblogging posts related to the scam they're trying to sell

2. Linking a *go fund me* but it actually leads you to their paypal account under a different name

3. Lack of precise information/vagueness. Their last few lines are always along the lines of; please donate/help where possible because all they care about is money!

4. You've interacted; reblogged/liked/commented with whatever content recently so they send you their stolen paragraph from an actual person who's in need of help. eg. Charity, free Gaza

5a. Inconsistent pronouns being used eg. Sometimes using 'i' and then switching to "them" or vice versa

5b. In addition to inconsistent pronouns, there could also be randomly placed quotation or exclamation marks - meaning they copied it from someone

6. You could also try reverse google searching the images/paragraph they use by simply putting quotation mark followed by the paragraph eg. "paragraph"

7. Copying the paragraph and pasting it on Tumblr search. You'll instantly find proof by looking at others posts

8. Always check against a vetted source to know if their account is reliable

Always report scammers posts and accounts too!

As always, don't be so trusting/gullible of everything you see online! Always check its legitimacy before liking/reblogging or asking others to help them out!

Not everyone is a scammer, but it's important donations go to people who actually need it!!

Reblogs are appreciated to help spread awareness 🙏🏼 With that said, Free Palestine, Congo, Haiti, Hawai’i, Sudan

[kyra45]

Campaign boost/mutual aid support scams

(Campaign boost/mutual aid support scams)

These kinds of scams occur when you tag original posts with tags such as “GoFundMe” “mutual aid” and more. This scam goes as follows:

A relatively blank account with a generic pfp will either send you a message or comment or even send you an ask telling you that your campaign doesn’t seem to be making progress so they’ll offer a service that will ‘boost’ your campaign but it’s not actually free.

Instead, these accounts will ask you to pay them $7 (or more!) to get a boost. You should not pay anyone money to get your fundraiser boosted as reblogs are free of charge and don’t cost any money to do. Report accounts who do this and block them. They usually use a Fiverr link.

Mutual aid support scams work in a similar fashion but the main difference is they will DM you and ask for your banking details so they can give you money or write you a fake check which would lead to you losing money either way. They will disregard any links you have that offer ways to support and evade questions you ask them. Report these accounts too and block them.

Please be careful of DMs that ask for personal information when you have plenty of links that someone could use to support you and don’t pay people to boost your fundraiser,

[coulsonlives]

PSA: CAT MEDICAL BILL SCAM

Please signal boost this if possible to inform your followers about these scams.

Earlier today, I got a message from the account nicole-loves-king, where they asked me to signal boost a post because their cat needed medical help. Here's the ask:

(And you can see the post in question here)

I looked at this post and was immediately put off because they were asking for people to send things through 'friends and family', which if you aren't aware, is a very insecure way to send someone funds using paypal, because you don't have the protections you would get if you used 'goods and services'. So scammers can make off w your money really easily.

I looked at their blog and scrolled down to the end, and I realized their blog was made today! And, all their posts (there weren't many posts to begin with lol) were of trending topics. I noted puss in boots, and welcome to nightvale among others. This is probably how they found me, because I reblogged some of that stuff recently.

Here's the time stamp from their oldest post (notice it says the time, not the date, which means the post was from today):

In their ask, they also tell you to answer privately. Hm, that seems sus. Why would someone not want you to publish a request for help?

So I have a policy where I don't signal boost posts from brand new blogs because, yknow, they could be scams. I posted this, and the scam account blocked me. They also blocked my friend when they replied to their ask and said their blog looked suspicious. I did some more digging, and I found a comment from someone that confirmed my suspicions:

This is in fact a scam!

@nicstonka is almost identical to the above account (nicole-loves-king). Look at the avatar, the pictures, and the paypal address, both accounts even have 'nic' (as in 'nicole') in the name. The only thing that is extremely different is the name of the cat! Yet both blogs also have the name of the cat in their url ('king' and 'tonka'). That should also be a red flag, because usually someone isn't gonna have the name of their pet in their url, only a few posts, and a signal boost for that exact (fake) pet.

Here's a side by side:

Looks at those paypal accounts: nbrunelle519, and nbrunelle391. Nope definitely not a scam /s

And the cat pictures side by side:

Tumblr's "scam" tag is actually full of these reports now, which you can see here. Or if there's nothing there anymore, click here and here for images.

And links to some older PSAs about other cat scams: 1 2 3

So if you see any blogs like this, where all they have is trending posts, it seems like they've copied and pasted an ask to you, or if they're asking you to send things via friends and family, vet them so so so carefully, because chances are you're walking into a scam. Don't just repost things without carefully checking! If you aren't in a position to check carefully, better safe than sorry: don't repost it! Don't let these scams spread.

Pro tip: If a blog is dash only, so you can't view their archive to see when their first post was made, and you're on desktop, you can just open the blog in its dashboard view, then click 'end' on your keyboard over and over until all their posts are loaded. Usually if it's a spam blog, you'll only need to click 'end' 5-6 times, sometimes a bit more, since they only post just enough times to give the appearance they're active, then there's absolutely nothing after that.

If you want more proof someone is a scammer, you can look at the currency they use their post (or the currency shown in the vet bill), then hover over the paypal link and inspect the part of the url that says 'country.x=AA'. The 'AA' is the abbreviation for the country your money is going to! If that country doesn't match the country of the currency shown in the post, it's a scam! Example: someone's post says '$' for USD/CAD dollars, but the country in their paypal link is 'PH', which stands for Philippines, where they use Philippine pesos, not dollars!

Also keep in mind that these are not bots! There is a real person behind these accounts. They have replied to people who wanted to confirm they were real, but their intentions are still to scam you, they just know it looks better if they reply.

Stay safe!!

Edit:

Updating this post to announce the scammer's made more blogs, and they're probably gonna keep doing it! Here's the list so far. This isn't up to date btw, go to @scamarchive and check their pinned post for the most recent detected blogs

turncoatrune, starlightdisc, xxmy, wxnt, eeyore-pg, coatedpeanbean, starrypanelstars, panelstars, scyllostyle, the-nonbinary-witch, aash-aash, leechness, ash-aahs, commandobutch, lovely-pages, pagefive-to-six, reconnecteed, five-and-fourty, stepsapphic, farmer-butch0, health-pages, turnersapphic, lxve, march-pls-be-good, emberful, imse7en, kassidymaygemz, kassidymaydream, dreamingkassidy, kasdream, live-march, confusedskulll, march-lives, criticaltuesday, quicksilvah, wrldy, quicksilveey, the-stucked-pan, flurrbum, o345, nxce, thls, hokkairi, sykdykee, furrtasticbu, bumfurry, supsense, wickdart, the90sbest

Keep in mind you may not receive an ask like the above ones. You may get something simpler like this, instead:

Most of these are cats, but there's been dogs and even people too.

If you wanna get even more info on all these accounts, there's an archive of this scammer's pinned posts and asks here, so you can see at a glance how similar they all are. You can also see a comprehensive list of scammer red flags specifically for tumblr here!

And lastly, you can report the scams using 'report something else' > 'unlawful uses or content' > 'phishing'

[starcurtain]

Sometimes I think about the fact that we have absolutely no information on how long Aventurine actually spent in slavery.

He fled from the Avgin massacre as a young child, and we didn't see him again until he was a grown adult. I doubt he could have survived entirely on his own at that age and Sigonia's conditions seem too harsh for people to randomly adopt orphans, especially from a rival/outcast clan...

We do know that the master we see on screen was not his only master, because he was purchased from someone else, but we have no idea how many masters he had total before his final one, how many times he could have fled and been recaptured, how many times he was bought and sold...

We do know that Aventurine appears to have been kept on Sigonia or somewhere similarly tribal for those missing years, since his first request to the IPC is for Jade to take him to her "chief," but we don't even know how long Aventurine has been out of slavery. He doesn't look massively different in age from his "trial" with Jade to how he looks in-game now, and he did not rise through the IPC ranks over time like Topaz but won his role directly through his gamble with Jade and then later proving himself on Iymanika.

Basically, all this is leading to a big question: Is it possible that the Aventurine we know is only barely out of slavery? That there may be something like five years or fewer separating him from the wastelands of Sigonia? That he learned all these new behaviors, all this new information about how to operate as a free person in the universe, in what likely amounts to 2-3 years of Jade's guidance and his own hard work?

Man, what an incredible character. Really a standout among my very favorites.

[staticespace]

Hello this a long shot call, am a citizen of Palestine. I am here to request for your support to help get my insulin, I was diagnosised with type 1 diabetes and due to current situation in Gaza I'm unable to get my insulin injection as a result I'm here begging for little financial support to help me purchase insulin for this week.My donation link is available on my pinned post

Your phrasing seems familiar...

So, I took a look at your pinned post.

🚩🚩🚩Says it's vetted and verified, but doesn't say by whom

🚩Amount substantially lower than other Palestinian requests

🚩Link leads to a PayPal link that has fewer donation protections

🚩No Tumblr user with substantiated Gazan relations reblogged it

🚩🚩🚩And, wait a second, in some versions of the post, you use a completely different name???

So what is your actual name??

...Seriously, this phrasing seems so freaking familiar. What is...

Ah.

It's you again, from a few weeks back. Either you thought my memory was super short, or this is a bot run by some weird bastard and you forgot to keep me out of it.

People like you are why it's hard enough for Palestinians to ask for help.

Oh, and that last red flag I mentioned? I was wrong. A Tumblr user with substantiated Gazan relations did reblog it.

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩To condemn you.

Get The Fuck Out My Inbox.

---

For anyone else still reading, I know this user is going to block me almost immediately after making this post, making me unable to see their posts or report anything, so I've been DMing some of you to spread the word first.

Here's the link to report their PayPal account for fraudulent activity:

The information you'll need:

Q: Describe the content or activity you’d like to report.

A: This person is running a continuing insulin scam on Tumblr. [or something like that.]

[Add link to this part of the report. Do not donate]

Zuhura Alfaat Kweyu - https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=UTVLBZYE4UH5U

Florence Khakasa's version has already been blocked from receiving donations, likely the reason for the name and account change.

Q: Tell us a bit more about where you saw the content or activity you’d like to report. Include at least one of the following:

Website or URL:

A: https://www.tumblr.com/staticespace/757816372061405184/hello-this-a-long-shot-call-am-a-citizen-of?source=share [Or copy the URL for this post and paste it there]

Q: Tell us about you. We’ll never share your information with another user.

A: [Email required, but not location.]

Remember to be safe online!

Stay kind and take no shit!

[weemietime]

Hey morons who continue to bait and virtue signal over scam bots and organized crime on this fucking hellsite, why so silent on the death of Islam Hijazi?

She was shot over 90 times in her car for refusing to hand over donation funds to Hamas. Hamas says it "may have been mistaken identity."

You know what I always say, shoot them 90 times first just to be sure.

[lesbosisle]

Gaza donation/aid scam

Hey lovelies, there have been a lot of scams going around of people pretending to be Gazans seeking aid. So this is a reminder that if a person shows up in your tumblr inbox who you don't know asking for money, don't give it to them. Ask further questions. If things don't line up on their account they are probably a scam.

This person who

Seemed legit enough right? I have now verified is a scam.

After asking some very simple questions they dodged all of the questions giving answers which didn't make sense.

Some of the things that didn't add up:

BIG RED FLAG

their account seemed to be four hours old, after turning on timestamps the oldest repost on their account (in fact all of their reposts) were four hours old - this is a massive red flag

said name was Tasneem Doreen Rajaab in the ask, email address is a completely different name, paypal is another different name 'Dorine Nanjala.' All three names are of different ethnic backgrounds making it unlikely this person was using a family member's account.

used very fluent english in their donation post but broken english in the ask and dms

+ more

Some of these things could be explained however when I reached out for clarification they dodged my questions and gave me nonsensical answers. A lot of these scams seem to use diabetes as part of their story so watch out for that.

Some scam busting blogs I'd recommend following are mysillypoker, kyra45, mangocheesecakes, and neechees.

When you receive an ask from a blog like this, reporting them for spam or phishing and reporting the PayPal account for fraudulent activity does help get these accounts taken down.

instead of giving your money to random blogs who might be scammers donate to

any of the families on this verified list from @palestineasdiqa on instagram

USPCR's toolkit

Participation and political resources for US, UK and Canada

gazafunds.com

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Doctors Without Borders (they provide medical care to many impoverished and war torn countries other than Palestine)

guide to buy & send esims to gaza

I will be tagging any of the people who reposted this scam not to call you out or anything but to spread awareness

@blossommagicghost @vendettafrank @lesbian-rlbmut @dylaadywptd @ohnoitsoak @petitommo @squidarts @nervestatic @py-dreamer @shippin-my-sanses @helllonursee2 @mirajanefairytailmage @leafwateraddict @passinhosdetartaruga

fyi they blocked me

[sinnabum45]

‼Another scammer‼

@crookedtimetraveldreamer is scamming people by pretending to be a Palestinian woman in Gaza. They are using stolen images to convince people to give them money!

This is the DM they are spreading around! Please be careful if you've seen their message and do NOT donate to them!

Here are screenshots of their pinned post:

Here are the photos that came up when I reversed searched these images:

Be careful and stay safe out there!

[scamarchive]

Red Flags: How to Identify a Tumblr Scam (Pet Edition)

Has someone sent you a message requesting that you boost their sick pet fundraiser? Have you seen someone reblog a post like that? It could be a scam.

Check out this list of red flags before you boost or donate!

🚩 Red flag #1: Someone you don't know has sent you an ask out of nowhere, requesting that you boost their fundraiser

Scammers like to cover as much ground as possible. To do this, they find completely random, unrelated people through the trending and popular posts. If you reblog a trending or popular post and receive an ask soon afterwards, that's probably how they came across your blog!

Example: you watch a new release movie like 'Puss in Boots', and you reblog some trending fanart. You receive an ask about a fundraiser a few days later.

Example 2: you like some fanart of characters from the recent 'The Last of Us' episode, which is trending on tumblr. You receive an ask about a fundraiser that night.

Example 3: you reblog some cottagecore photography or another post that contains a trending aesthetic. Hours later, you receive an ask about a fundraiser.

🚩 Red flag #2: They tell you to answer their ask privately

Scammers love spamming the same copy-pasted ask to hundreds of people! They also love to reuse asks from previous scams. To reduce how many people notice the similarities between their current asks and asks from previous scams, they'll tell you to answer privately, to stop more evidence from getting out there. Also consider: if someone really has a sick pet, they should want as much exposure as they can get! Telling someone not to publish their ask seems counterintuitive, unless they have an ulterior motive.. Which a scammer will definitely have.

Knowing these red flags, check out the six scam asks below. What do they have in common?

🚩 Red flag #3: Comments are turned off in the fundraising post, or there are removed comments

Scammers preemptively turn off comments in their posts so people can't call attention to the fact they're scams. People who have real fundraisers, on the other hand, are usually glad to talk to you in the comments! Sometimes, scammers let people make comments, but there may be a message that 'some comments have been deleted or removed'. These were usually warnings from people who realized it was a scam.

🚩 Red flag #4: Their ask box is closed

Scammers preemptively turn off their ask box because they can't provide proof that the pets and vet bills belong to them. They also want to avoid angry messages from people who realize they're a scammer.

🚩 Red flag #5: They ask you to send money through paypal's 'friends and family'

On paypal, you can send strangers funds using 'goods and services', or 'friends and family'. Scammers will often ask you to send through 'friends and family' because you have very little protection and you'll have a hard time getting your money back! Scammers like to spin it as being 'faster', and they'll try to appeal to your emotions to create a sense of urgency and guilt, convincing you to send money using that option.

🚩 Red flag #6: Their posts have no tags. Their posts are all reblogs of trending posts. They don't seem to be reblogging consistently from any specific blogs

Scammers make a fresh blog for every new scam. They want to set up their blogs as fast as possible, so they cut corners, meaning that aside from their fundraising post, all their posts will be reblogs, and they won't usually have tags. The reblogs will often be of trending, easy-to-find tumblr posts! In most cases, scammers reblog posts from as many different blogs as they can, unlike the typical tumblr user who usually reblogs from select people they follow, over and over.

🚩 Red flag #7: They only have ~40 posts on their blog

Scammers know that most people won't spend more than a moment scrolling through a blog to verify its age, so they'll only populate their blogs with just enough posts to convince someone who only scrolls for a short time. Usually, the posts are all made within a few hours at most. If a blog is run by a scammer, usually you can scroll through all the posts within five minutes.

Remember: scammers want you to think 'eh, good enough'! If you're scrolling through a blog and you start to think this, scroll for another minute or two!

If you're on desktop, you can quickly get to the end of someone's posts by tapping the 'end' or 'page down' keys.

🚩 Red flag #8: Most of their posts are reblogged directly from the original poster

Scammers will usually reblog posts directly from the person who originally posted them, unlike most tumblr users, who tend to see posts reblogged by their friends and reblog them from those friends instead.

🚩 Red flag #9: Most of their posts have very high note counts

This is another indication they were fabricating their blog activity. It's way easier to find super popular posts than smaller ones! This is not a rule, most scam blogs will have posts with ~40 notes mixed in with posts with ~40k notes.

🚩 Red flag #10: The timestamp of the oldest post is only a few days old

Most scam blogs don't last more than a week before tumblr deletes em. Once you've scrolled to the end of the blog, check the timestamp of the oldest post by clicking on the 'meatball' (three dots) icon in the corner of it. If that post is only a few days old, or if it's so new that you don't even see a date (only a time), the blog is probably run by a scammer!

🚩 Red flag #11: The blog is dash-only

Scammers disable their blog's main theme so people can't see their archive and instantly see how new all their posts are. They want you to have to scroll, then get tired of scrolling (or say 'good enough'), so you never reach the end of their very sparse posts and realize it's a fabricated blog.

🚩 Red flag #12: The reblog notes have warnings that say 'this is a scam'

When people reblog a scam post and realize it's a scam, they'll often edit the post to warn people who see it in the future. You can look for these warnings by checking the 'comments and replies' reblogs, and the 'comments only' reblogs! Scammers count on people to reblog instinctively and not check these notes.

🚩 Red flag #13: You check the 'other reblogs' tab and notice that many unrelated users reblogged the post directly from the original url

This indicates the person sent copy-pasted asks to many unrelated people (this ties into red flag #1 and #2!). An unknown blog shouldn't have this many direct reblogs for their post, especially if the post and blog itself is super new.

🚩 Red flag #14: You check out their url tag at tumblr.com/tagged/URLHERE and see posts warning that they're a scammer

Sometimes, upon searching for the person's url (you can do this by going to tumblr.com/tagged/URLHERE), you'll see a bunch of people who have outed the scammer. Keep in mind even if you don't see any warnings, it doesn't necessarily mean the person isn't a scammer! Sometimes a blog is just too new for anyone to have posted about it yet.

🚩 Red flag #15: The post uses strong emotional buzzwords and language

Scammers like to use a post template that involves many colourful emojis, and phrases like 'my poor (pet name)!', 'he deserves to live!', and 'help us save a (cat/dog/etc)!' to appeal to emotion and make people feel empowered to help. This is so someone will share the post as quickly as possible, and not spend as much time carefully vetting the blog. The language is designed to make people feel guilty if they don't share. Not all posts containing this language are scams, but scammers employ it a lot because it's super effective at getting results!

🚩 Red flag #16: They don't have established history with anyone on tumblr

If nobody knows who the person is, chances are it's a scam. There's no shame in asking around to see if people recognize the blog! Make sure if someone comes forward to confirm, that their blog is older and they're well known in the community. Scammers don't really go through the hassle of astroturfing real interactions with real people before making their scam posts.

🚩 Red flag #17: The currency on the vet bill doesn't match the currency of the country that appears when you hover over the paypal link

This is a big one! For example, imagine there's a post with a photo of a vet bill. You notice the costs are all in US dollars ($). Next you check out the paypal link at the bottom of the post by hovering over it with your cursor (or pressing and holding with your finger, if you're on mobile).

When you do this, in the bottom corner of your screen (or in a popup if you're on mobile), you see the url attached to that paypal link. This url reveals the paypal user's country using a short abbreviation! In the example below, you can see 'PH', which stands for 'Philippines':

Therefore, the post in this example is almost certainly a scam, because the currency in the Philippines is pesos (₱), not USD ($).

You can also look carefully at the vet bill to find the location of that vet. In this example, the vet is located in Richmond Virginia, US. That is a red flag too because again, the paypal recipient is located in the Philippines!

🚩 Red flag #18: They have both a venmo and a paypal link, but the names aren't the same

Scammers make sock puppet accounts for venmo and paypal, and they'll often reuse those accounts between scams! Because of this, their links won't have identical names. For instance, in the example scam above, their paypal said 'aatuck1', but their venmo said 'evan-naeher'. This is probably because they made a new paypal to match the name on the vet bill they stole, but they still had a working venmo they wanted to reuse.

Other handy things to remember:

Just because someone proves they aren't a bot, it doesn't mean they aren't a scammer!

Many scammers do manually send asks to people, do reply to people who ask questions (without giving any actual verification), and even block people who reveal them to be scammers. Many scammers have been confirmed to have 'waking hours' and 'sleeping hours'.

💡 When in doubt, ask the person to write some words of your choice on a sheet of paper, put it next to the animal, and send a picture of it to you. 💡

If the person actually owns the pet, this will be easy for them. If they can't produce a picture, it's a scammer. Remember: if someone gives an excuse for why they can't send a pic, stay skeptical! Excuses are not a substitute for proof.

When in doubt, answer their ask firmly and skeptically.

This is the 'tough love' version of the above approach!! If someone sends you an ask, say firmly that their blog 'looks suspicious', and that you aren't comfortable sharing or donating. Often, scammers will block you as soon as you say this, because they know they can't provide any verification (unlike people with real fundraisers, who will be happy to give it) and because you've given them the impression you're tough on scammers and not an easy sell, they won't even try to convince you! Now if they don't block you? Awesome- now's the time to ask them for the sheet of paper photo.

Scammers use stolen, but legitimate, photographs of pets and vet bills!

The bills are real, the pictures of pets are real. But they're stolen from real fundraisers that other people made on facebook, gofundme, etc. Because of this, you can't rely on a vet bill picture alone to tell if something is a scam! You need to look at the context of the entire post, and check for red flags in the person's blog, etc. That's where things fall apart!

You won't always find a source for pet pictures if you reverse-image search them!

Scammers often take pictures from facebook and other websites that are behind login walls, and these sources won't show up on google. If you reverse-search a picture and nothing shows up, remember to still check for other red flags!

Lastly: If you want to report a scam, you can select 'report something else' > 'unlawful uses or content' > 'phishing'.

Just remember these red flags, or save em for reference, and you'll be a scam detective in no time!

Reposted with permission from @coulsonlives.

[scam-alerts]

🚨Scammer Alert🚨

Currently: @foggyhottubpost

Previously banned: @foggyruinspost + @foggyruinsblog

How these blogs are a scam:

Blogs is 1-4 months old.

Claims to be a Palestinian from Gaza.

Claims to need Insulin.

'Verified and Vetted' but doesn't say by who.

Blogs are.. exactly identical.

Names don't match the PayPal.

Key phrase: 'type 1 diabetes at a tender age'. (seen on other blogs*)

*This key phrase is also seen on qualitycherryblossombluebird who I covered in an entirely different post which can be seen here.

PayPal names used by these accounts:

foggyruinspost - Jamillah Vilinga (september 5th CONNECTION)

foggyruinspost - Jimmy Derick (11/29/24 - archive - CONNECTION)

foggyruinsblog - Diana Achieng (11/29/24)

foggyruinsblog - Lucy Ikunza (12/3/24)

foggyhottubpost - Mercy Siomi 12/14/24 (CONNECTION)

Connection #1: The name Jamillah Vilinga has been seen/found used by the account perfectpiratewonderland which was one of the accounts running the insulin scam that eunice-2-magwerl was running. Reported here by a helpful anon.

Here's the post I made about this insulin scam that's still ongoing.

Connection #2: The name Jimmy Derick is the name recently used/seen on the scam account swimmingcollectioninternet who stole their entire story from another tumblr user*. The scammer claimed to be a black Americana lesbian yet (at the time they were caught) they were using images of a white woman. (I really wish I were making this up.)

*The person who had their story stolen is 100% real and they themselves are not in any way a scammer. @kyra45 even confirms this here. (Also maybe go donate if you can. :) )

Connection #3: The name Mercy Siomi has been used by other scammers.

-----

Tips and tricks for scam spotting. A guide on how to spot a insulin scam. Info on Scams where someone pretends to be Palestinian. Other helpful guides on spotting scams.

Current list of documented scammers: Part 1 and Part 2

Disclaimer: This post is only meant to serve as documentation and reference material so that others know: why this person is a scammer, and to provide more information about the scam they are running. I do not, in any way, endorse harassment or mass reporting these users. Only report posts related to asks, comments, or messages if you GET them or ones like them. Thank you.

[actualalivecreature]

beware of scammer @enchantingcomputerdefendor

They’re reaching out to people seeking mutual aid and trying to get them to commit check fraud. Stay safe, and only accept money through legit cash sharing services like ppal/vnmo/capp, never like this. Virtual checks don’t exist. You have to have a real, physical check in order to deposit one.

[jay-wasreblogging]

IMPORTANT: BE AWARE OF ZIAD OKASHA HE IS A BENEFICIARY SCAMMER!! ⚠️

DO NOT DONATE TO ANY GOFUNDME OR FUNDRAISER WITH HIS NAME OR PROFILE PIC ATTACHED - IF YOU ALREADY HAVE THEN PLEASE REPORT AND REQUEST A REFUND! REPORT ANY OLD AND NEW FUNDRAISERS BY ZIAD OKASHA!

source via Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser List, here is Al-Nabih's GoFundMe and Karam Rafael's old GoFundMe.

The people in the GoFundMes above are real and vetted - Ziad Okasha took advantage of both palestinian families and donors.

⚠️ MY DEAR PALESTINIAN FRIENDS AND FRIENDS OF PALESTINIANS PLEASE BE AWARE! ⚠️

Karam Rafael has a new vetted GoFundMe w/ Ahmed Keddad - please donate there.