#gofundme scammers

[gaza-scam-alerts]

I was sent screenshots these DM messages and the responses by someone who would like to be kept anonymous for purposes of this post:

@maramgaza9, you have been UNVETTED and outed as a SCAMMER, taking advantage of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and peoples's naïve sense of empathy about it, for your own personal gain.

You're a bad person and you should feel bad.

[werewolf-cuddles]

Just got this one in my inbox, and instead of just deleting it outright, let's go over some of the red flags that indicate this is a scam, shall we?

First, the biggest red flag which y'all can't immediately see here since I cropped out the username and GoFundMe link is that the account was created literally 2 days ago, as of this time of writing. That is usually a dead giveaway of a throwaway account that exists solely to promote a scam.

Secondly, "Mohammed". For some reason, that's the name 98% of these scam messages go with. Could it just be a coincidence that all of these "Palestinians in need" just happen to share the same name? Or is it more likely they just googled "common Palestinian names" and went with the first name on the list?

Also, why Euros? That seems particularly odd to me. From what I've been able to research, there are three different denominations of currency used in Palestine; Israeli shekels, US dollars, and Jordanian dinars. Notice which currency is NOT on that list?

It doesn't make sense for a Palestinian fundraiser to be asking for Euros, a currency not used in Palestine, unless the person making the fundraiser is trying to reach out to Europeans specifically... or is actually based in a European country that uses the Euro.

"Helping animals" is also extremely vague, but is a cause that most people can empathize with. It's also worth noting that this is not the first "I help the animals in Gaza during the harsh war" message I've seen, and I doubt it will be the last.

Anyway, learn to recognize the signs of a scammer. Don't blindly trust every fundraiser you see. Don't blindly promote every random stranger who comes into your inbox to ebeg.

[rjalker]

Groovyblizzardtiger for your free 99% probably a donation scammer block list. Just sent me an ask completely out of the blue 2 seconds after following me with never interacting with any of my other posts, and that's fucking scammer behavior and I'm not even going to bother to check the rest of it because that's what scammers do. goodbye.

Remember that if a random stranger do you have literally never interacted with before and who has never interacted with any of your posts sends you an ask asking for donations, 99.99 times out of 100 that is a scam account and it's going to get deleted and remade probably within a few days or even a few hours as soon as they get caught.

These people will change their stories every now and then once people start catching on to what they're doing, but they are almost always stealing other people's photos and medical information, commonly they will post extremely graphic images of injuries or gore to shock you into donating. Block and report them as spam. I don't think Tumblr has a report function specifically for scammers.

Recent scammers have learned that they cannot literally just have a blog with two donation posts on it so they've started going through fandom tags and re-blogging a random surge of fandom content, but if you investigate the blog you almost always see that the blog is brand spanking new, and is not nearly as full as it seems at first glance.

[chilewithcarnage]

yeah so going off that maykitz post about sonya massey & it's showing me that white people have this gross almost fetishtic relationship to witnessing violence against brown and black bodies. like why are you encouraging people to watch what is essentially snuff. everytime a black person is murdered on camera by a cop or a group of Palestinian children get killed in another iof bombing y'all will share the uncensored horrific blood and viscera talking about some 'dont you dare look away'. like girl fuck you how do you think it feels for us to see our people get graphically tortured and murdered at the hands of white supremacist colonial forces? I saw the video of Sonya being shared all over twitter and I couldn't even get past the first few seconds of her holding the pot. I'm not even being funny when I say don't nobody wanna see that shit. y'all might see it as a 'oh people are trying to stick their heads in the sand and shield themselves from the truth!' like NO we're really not! we're not sitting up here making crybaby ass posts about how 'tumblr is supposed to be a fun place so if you use it as an escape from all of the bad things happening you're valid 🌈' we are all very much aware of what is going on in the world, and ask yourself why you have to see first hand explicit horrific footage of a black woman being shot in the FACE to have sympathy with us?!

[herefortheships]

Betel and Lydia's next deal should go like:

"I promised myself I wouldn't do this again, but I really need your help. And I swear that this time I actually will-"

"I want a picture. Of you. Last one I got is scratched all to hell and needed updating anyway. Not too much to ask is it? A new picture of my boo?"

"You had a...? Actually, never mind. Deal."

*some time later*

"Here." *hands him the picture*

"Oh wow, you actually paid! We're making real progress!"

*looks at it* *eyes bug out, tongue lolls out, he gives a wolf-whistle*

"HOLY FUCKING MOLY! Babes. Babes, I meant for my desk! Like a portrait pic! A safe-for-work photograph of your face. AndokIwashopingforsomecleavage but, but this is-"

"Um, well I-" *she tries to snatch it back*

"Oh, nononononono, I am keeping this!"

This was brought to you by my frustration that Betelgeuse never gets paid by Lydia. Cause he asked too much too soon of her. So he should ask for something more reasonable and get overpaid at least once. In the spirit of fairness and all that.

Ahh! I love this 😂✨

Talking about his photo being smashed, I hope Betelgeuse got to pick up an updated photo of Lydia at some point in the movie while he was loose. Maybe when he went away for a bit during their team-up. It's sad if Delores ruined his framed photo and he can't have a new one. He can always fix it, but it'd be nice if he got a new one.

[beta-lactam-allergic]

2 more scam bots pretending to be Gazans sent messages to me in the past few hours. So, to vent about this, I'm posting this poll.

[hast8686]

Beware of scams

Im a STUPID guy, I politely replied to a DM from the Gaza Strip that I dont even know is true. Listen, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM

They're bullshit making money off people's suffering. If you're going to give money to people like that, you might as well just eat pizza🍕

If you want to help the people in Gaza who are really in trouble, there must be more reliable and trustworthy support organizations. Its important, so I'll say it again, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM.

THEY ARE SCAMMERS >:(

[wishingstarinajar]

It's the Holiday season so I guess that's also the time for people to try and pull on others' heartstrings by begging for money for various causes.

Within the past three days, I've received several Asks on my main and side blog from random "bots" who all have similar messages and the same kind of avatar (usually a portrait, a family photo, or ruined buildings). Heck, I've received the same copy-paste "gofundme" asks over the past year and I don't see an end to it.

To the people behind these fake accounts; Fuck you for trying to scam people by tapping into their humanity, especially during the holiday season. And fuck you for playing light of people who are in actual need and giving them a bad rep. Try provoking my empathy this way and you get yeeted onto my block list so fast, I'm not kidding.

So done with this. Ugh.

(I've thrown this post into my drafts several times over the past few days because I wasn't certain if to actually post it. But fek it, we ball.)

[imnotkosmic]

Hello, I'm Mohmmed Akram, This is my brother Ahmed

We live in Gaza, which has been suffering from war for more than 10 months.

I had a lot of ambitions and dreams that I was working to achieve, but all that faded from the start of this brutal war.

10 months of bombing, destruction, suffering, displacement and death.

Our house was destroyed at the beginning of the war on Gaza and I had to flee inside Gaza at the beginning since the third day of the war before I was taken out of it (to the south),

So that all our fortunes, memories and lives will be smarted out before October 7th. The costs now are heartbreak and unspeakable and unbearable conditions, in a tent that cannot be described .

It was one of the worst days in which this cruelty and famine were thrown upon us. On that nightmarish day, a school housing a large number of displaced children and women was targeted in this place. My brother Ahmed was injured in the head as he was trying to make a living during these famines.

My brother Ahmed is injured

Unfortunately, due to the presence of many among them, shocks, cases of fainting, needs, medical care needs, problems and difficult circumstances, but your help, my friends, standing next to Ahmed Kakh, is for you. He and his family need help to enable them to overcome this disaster and suffering.

Thank you for your interest and reading, and I hope you can help, if only a little ❤

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ahmed-helped-below-what-we-can-survive-in-gaza

:/

[zndr315-blog]

Hello help prevent my lungs from collapsing please, am here begging for any little donation you will offer. Kindly support me by donating and sharing 💗...As low as $5 will save my life

Thanks for accepting to help me

No, you’re a scammer, as documented here by @slenbee.

Please consider sharing, reblogging, and donating to these REAL fundraisers instead👇

@oday-akram, verified by @gaza-evacuation-funds in this post, and number 369 on their list:

@hanihomed, number 99 on @gazavetters’ list:

@savepalestineinfamily19, verified by several different tumblr users, as documented in this post:

@mssb9996, number 309 on @gazavetters’ list:

@safaabed8, this family’s fundraiser was verified by @nabulsi and their original fundraiser was previously verified by @90-ghost before it was wrongly deleted, as documented here:

@needaafarhat, number 248 on @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi’s list and verified by @90-ghost here:

[gaza-scam-alerts]

I understand tumblr deactivated the scam ring leader account at the top of the scheme that "vets" all the other scammers who all use the same emoji-laden scripts and use the gofundme website that doesn't operate in Gaza to collect money from English-speaking tumblr users who are easily parted from their money.

Good job @staff

[werewolf-cuddles]

Oh fuck, jesus christ. Yeah, reblogging this, this is an important addition.

I swear we used to be able to think critically about random GoFundMe asks

It used to be understood that if someone using a throwaway blog suddenly starts messaging a bunch of accounts to beg for money, they were most likely a scammer.

Now suddenly there are fucking swarms of throwaway bots relentlessly shilling GoFundMe campaigns to anyone who even so much as breathes in the direction of a trending tag or post, yet the mere suggestion that any of these could be a scam will immediately get you yelled at by self-righteous strangers.

What changed?

[dragonwithawolftattoo]

Unfortunately I am turning off anon asks because I am getting flooded with donation asks

I have 23 cents in my bank account and no working vehicle on my own, please leave me the fuck alone

[rjalker]

oh my fucking gods Gofundme said oh, you were affected by a hurricane? Well we think you're a scammer. We're gonna threaten you now.

[ID: A screenshot of a popup from Gofundme that reads:

Before you continue:

We've noticed you're trying to raise money for Hurrcane Helene.

Our main goals are to protect donors from fraud as best we can and help make campaigns as sucessful as possible. Please be sure to include some additional information to your story to ensure your campaign is allowed

Transparency is always the best policy. Please include the following information in your story:

Who you are.

Where you're from.

Your relationship to the parties you're raising funds for.

How the funds will be spent (be as specific as possible).

Remember that you will be held accountable for using any money raised in the exact manner you state within your campaign.

Thank you for your cooperation!

There is a large button at the bottom that reads, "Edit your story".

End ID.]

ohh my fucking gods I think they're actually demanding I put in all the information in that fucking numbered list before I can make the fucking donation page.

for fuck's sake. anyways. here it is. cannot believe these people.

we lost all the groceries we had in the fridge and freezer when our power went out. We have to not only buy more, but need to stock up on food that does not need to be refridgerated or heated for the next time this happens. also need to keep an extra supply of disposable menstrual pads because I literally ran out while the power was out and I'd like to not do that again.

I set a goal of $500 so we can actually buy groceries to actually let us eat because right now I'm usually not even eating a single meal each day, let alone three.

[themeowingfox]

Hi there, please don't skip!

Here I have compiled All Of The Links(TM) for fellow Palestine supporters and generally anti-genocide folks. I'll try to keep this updated when I have the spoons.

Here are some ways you can help Palestine; a masterpost.

Here's another masterpost.

And another one.

If you've donated recently or are a regular donator, keep an eye out for this.

Debunking the assumption that these accounts are all scams.

Another debunk, and useful notes on identifying actual scammers.

A reminder of what we are dealing with, and some useful links.

Individual fundraisers below the cut, from Palestinians that have reached out to me in my inboxes. These are all vetted by association, they and more vetted fundraisers can be found here, here, here, here and here.

Ok to reblog and add your own additional updates and resources; they are very, very appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Dr. Tamer Al Deeb's fundraiser; only €25,275 of €40,000 raised [Gaza Evacuation Funds #191]

Eman Zaqout's fundraiser; only $46,423CAD of $60,000 raised [PaliLiberation #167, vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Muntaha & Hamada's fundraiser; only €2,325 of €60,000 raised [GazaVetters #80]

Majed's fundraiser; only $11,410 of $70,000 raised [Vetted/ shared by @/bilal-salah0]

Mohammed Ayyad's fundraiser; only €31,015 of €35,000 raised [Vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Shahd's fundraiser; only $3,087 of $10,000 raised [Vetted by association with @/rehamyasirr, who was vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Ahmed Altaban's fundraiser; only $26,595 of $30,000 raised [GoFundwaterMelons #468, vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Samer Abu Ras's fundraiser; only €3,730 of €30,000 raised [Gaza Evacuation Funds #196, vetted/ shared by @/nabulsi; Experienced issues using the Swedish currency in their previous link, please use this one instead.]

Ahed Alanqar's fundraiser; only €12,338 of €40,000 raised [GazaVetters #229]

Waseem Abusafi's fundraiser; only €3,500 of €20,000 raised [GazaVetters #9]

Tareq Ayyad's fundraiser; only $20,010 of $92,900 raised [GazaVetters #160, ButterflyEffect Project #599, PaliLiberation #95; Be warned that @/voice-of-tareq-family is an impersonator of the real Tareq.]

Mosab Derawi's fundraiser; only €16,762 of €20,000 raised [GazaVetters #309; Very likely legit, but have been observed to spam asks. Just delete the ones you get from any of their alts.]

Ghazal Naseer & Al-Kafarna's fundraiser; only £20,966 of £25,000 raised [Gaza Evacuation Funds #355]

Momen's fundraiser; only €10,316 of €50,000 raised [GazaVetters #291]

Mohamad S.'s fundraiser; only €1,297 of €20,000 raised [Vetted/ shared by @/bilal-salah0]

Hanan Ali Al-Salout's fundraiser; only $14,681 of $30,000 raised [GazaVetters #152, vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Ali Al-Hallaq's fundraiser; only $9,107 of $10,000 raised [GazaVetters #373]

Marwa's fundraiser; only £885 of £20,000 raised [Vetted/ shared by @/bilal-salah0]

Ahmed's fundraiser; only £1,549 of £85,000 raised [Vetted/ shared by @/gaza-evacuation-funds and @/90-ghost]

layan Qudeeh's fundraiser; only €4,793 of €36,000 raised [GazaVetters #317]

Hadiah Jad Elhag's fundraiser; only €14,418 of €50,000 raised [GazaVetters #136, vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Hamdi's fundraiser; only €1,630 of €35,000 raised [Vetted by association with Mohammed Ayyad]

Areej Kassab's fundraiser; only $3,892 of $60,000 raised [ButterflyEffect Project #355]

Haifa Homeid's fundraiser; only €5,664 of €20,000 raised [GazaVetters #356]

Maha Ibrahim's fundraiser; only €22,842 of €40,000 raised [Gaza Evacuation Funds #163]

Kawthar Ramadan's fundraiser; only €10,694 of €50,000 raised [GazaVetters #145, vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost]

Mounir Raed's fundraiser; only €4,220 of €30,000 raised [GazaVetters #8]

Jumana's fundraiser; only $117 of $30,000 raised [Vetted by association with @/asmaayyad, who was vetted/ shared by @/90-ghost; Original fundraiser was disabled, and has to start over.]

Mohammed Alanqar's fundraiser; only €77,832 of €90,000 raised [Gaza Evacuation Funds #174]

Please, please consider giving something. Even a donation as small as a dollar helps.

Thank you for reading 🍉

[evilcado]

Hi everyone, My name is Likuyani, I am Palestinian born and raised in Gaza city, I moved to London Ontario 4 years ago with my husband. I am raising this fund to help my family flee the war and come safely to Canada and reunite with me and my kids again. I'm writing to you at a really critical and urgent moment. Presently, my family is in Gaza and is dealing with unspeakable conditions. My family and I are fervently requesting your assistance so that we can help them flee to safety and reunite with me in Canada. I live in Canada with my 2 kids , yet I feel like I'm thousands of miles away from my family and are helpless to stop the suffering caused by ongoing aggression in Gaza. The situation is getting worse every day, and I worry about their safety. Any donation will be highly appreciated. The donation link is in my pinned post. Kindly help where possible.

These are scammers trying to profit on the war on Gaza‼️Go to @/kyra45 for more details

How to spot scams based around Palestine:

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

They link a go fund me but it actually leads you to their paypal under a different name

You've interacted; reblogged/liked pro Palestinian content recently so they send you their stolen paragraph

Their last few lines are always along the lines of; please donate/help where possible because all they care about is money

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

Never reblog without checking if it's legitimate‼️

Scammers: colorfuldestinyfest salatonnkoringo leftcreatoreagles