#go scam me

[snarkleharkle]

The replies here are wild.

So many people who need to touch grass.

Should I donate to AO3?

[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 ]

[theabigailthorn]

Thanks to all my patrons for supporting me!

Turns out when you actually do your own research and writing [AHEM!] it takes time to make good content. These awesome names and plenty of generous people like them help make that happen. Their pledges give me the time to research the show PROPERLY and also go towards paying the crew, who make the show look spectacular.

If you can, and you wanna support what I do, sign up and join them :)

[12percentspider]

Huh ok so a certain confirmed scammer used a header image but I did see something in it.

Something I've definitely seen before. But I just can't place the name... [i'm censoring the people because it's 100% stolen ok]

Seen that before. Should be easy enough to-

That's right! Jollibee. I heard they were going to bring that to the US. Does anyone in the audience know where Jollibee is from?

If you remember hearing about it, yes, it's originally from the Philippines. {< literally just the company website. but i did see there's one a 4 hour-ish drive from me but i'm obviously not going there right now to check}

So literally a scammer just looked up pictures of families where someone has a hijab in the picture. Or a search to that extent. The picture isn't of anyone in occupied Palestine.

@massivegalaxytragedy Did you try the sundae twirl? How is it? Your images seem to have some stolen from Gaza reports, but the family pictures seem stolen from a real family's facebook profiles. Is it someone you know? Do they know what you're using their pictures for?

Huh, you can rent one of those trucks in Davao. Last I checked that's nowhere the fuck near Gaza.

[northern-passage]

i thought there was a call to boycott the entirety of black friday and cyber monday?

i think there are people on tumblr & twitter that are advocating for a full boycott (which is good), but specifically with BDS & according to their website they're just calling for a targeted boycott against puma, HP, and marvel for black friday and cyber monday (along with the other targeted companies)

personally, i'm also boycotting starbucks (for their treatment of unionized workers) as well as a few of the other companies not listed in the immediate full boycott list.

as of 11/22 on their twitter, this is what they shared:

1. Consumer boycott targets - The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands carefully selected due to the company's proven record of complicity in Israeli apartheid.

2. Divestment targets - The BDS movement is pressuring governments, institutions and investment funds to exclude and divest from as many complicit companies as practical, especially weapons manufacturers, banks, and companies listed in the UN database of business involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, as well as the WhoProfits and AFSC Investigate databases of companies enabling the occupation. Below we give some of the targets we are campaigning against.

3. Pressure (non-boycott) targets - The BDS movement actively calls for pressure campaigns against these brands and services due to their complicity in Israeli apartheid. We have not, on strategic grounds, called for a boycott of these brands and services, instead we strategically call on supporters and institutions to mount other forms of pressure on them until they end their complicity in Israeli apartheid.

4. Organic boycott targets - The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns but is in support of them due to these brands openly supporting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.

ultimately the companies listed under the first category you absolutely should be boycotting 100%.

and i'm not going to tell you to not also boycott black friday, especially since it coincides with the temporary 4-day "truce." like i said, i know there are groups that have been advocating for a full boycott this weekend along with protests; there were hundreds today, from Washington, DC, to Massachusetts, to California, to Florida... i shared the creator's day because they do that every other month or so on itch.io anyways & i wanted to link the BDS information alongside it. they may update in the future as well and call for more targeted boycotts as the holidays ramp up so i suggest bookmarking the website or following them on twitter, and look for a campaign near you to get involved directly.

BDS has also called for a global day of action on November 29th, which includes intensifying all targeted boycotting campaigns.

[fisheito]

when a battle can't be solved with dark nova yakumo

[kirby-the-gorb]

[vynnyal]

Turns out Sunlit Trail isn't quite done just yet, so after all that they just send you to a dead end 😂

[average-transfem-robotgirl]

My family is still staying in half of the church that wasn’t affected by the bombing because there is nowhere else to stay other than tents. They are limited to one small meal a day and one shower a week. They are sleeping on the floors, but no one can sleep since there is bombing everywhere around them. Even when there is no bombing, they can still hear the loud buzzing sound of the military planes above them, which would keep anyone who hears it awake. Along with everything, My grandma has diabetes and osteoporosis, so she can’t walk. She has to take her insulin medication along with many others; however, she has run out of many of her medications.” Am on my knees requesting for donation. Target $950

1: Another person with a randomly generated three word name.

2: Another scam prompt VERY similar to others I’ve seen.

3: You follow some accounts that haven’t even posted anything, making me think you’re definitely using an algorithm for picking out people.

4: Your profile picture is from this Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/uk8x8q-help-my-family-leave-gaza

(By the way, please go support this Go Fund Me.)

5: You’re using the same banner, title, page layout, and description as all of the other scam bots I’ve seen.

6: 950$ is not NEARLY enough to successfully evacuate a family. You’re just expecting enough people to fall for this that you’ll earn a quick buck.

Fuck this, fuck you, free Palestine. 🇵🇸

[dakogutin]

beware of scammers posing as artists offering commissions

this user left a comment on my fic and followed up with this

their first comment (which i didnt include) already sounded bot-like (they talked only about the first scene and didn't leave comments on the other chapters despite saying my fic had 'great potential')

so i let them reach out to me on tumblr only to find an empty profile

so i browsed through their likes and found random posts from different fandoms. no themes or ships or anything.

very much bot behavior

then i found this warning under a post endorsing this person.

naturally i reached out. and they said this.

it's so disheartening that this exists in fandom spaces. i hope this would help caution others out there as i doubt it was a coincidence they reached out thru my ongoing fic that's fairly new and therefore has only a few hits and kudos-- making my profile vulnerable ig. i hope shtbags like them burn in hell:D

rb to spread the word

[3-aem]

my toxic trait is picking up random hobbies on a whim like today i went shopping for a cardigan but found No cardigan i liked and so i naturally decided that i can just knit one even tho the only thing i have ever knit was a 8” by 3” rectangle in 5th grade that just looked so pathetic-

[storm-of-feathers]

franticly googling how to be best friends with all my mutuals when i never answer dms and barely answer asks but i want to be best friends

[nightmareonpeachstreet]

look at how perfect their artworks go together, they look like they're opening a performance. the vibes are immaculate

[r0semultiverse]

Wait so do you Eurovision fans pay to vote every year only to have some jury decide the winner instead? That is such a scam. Literally.

[creekfiend]

oh my god I can't report the copy-paste spam from ppl lying about collecting funds for gaza fast enough why is my inbox so full of these and why are people so horrid CUT IT OUT

[koszmarnybudyn]

I think the Oaks plus Hermie should fucking kick scam to death for that prophecy being fake, i am so fucking close to doing a whole ass jurgen leitner rant about scam fucking likely rn fuck this shit omg. So Hero got fucking traumatized and trained and was put under so much fucking pressure for NOTHING?!?! She fucked up her relashonship with her brother and whole family for nothibg?! Sparrow put really high expectations onto his kids for shit. Like if not for the fucking prophecy Normal and Hero wouldnt be fucking traning at daddies and so code purple wouldnt fucking happen and maybe Henry would still fucking talk with his fucking sons. Jebać Scama, wtf skurwiel jebany omg hold me the fuck down or i will rip his skin of one milimeter at a time with my own nails fuck that guy, cocks in his ass shut the fuck up oh my fucking god his bitchass got me so fucking pissed. I hope he dies in agony, bitch got me swearing in polish i hope he diesssss!!!!