Seeking likes and profiting from the suffering of our fellow citizens is a crime.

The northern mountainous provinces are still reeling from devastating floods, with immeasurable losses of life and property. Local authorities are actively carrying out rescue and relief efforts to help people and minimize the damage caused by the floods.

These days, the whole country is focusing on the people in the northern mountainous provinces through charitable and relief activities. However, in recent days, fake news and inhumane actions exploiting the floods to gain views and profit have been constantly appearing on social media.

The photo of a baby crying over the loss of its mother (left) and a family fleeing floods in Ha Giang is inaccurate regarding the impact of Typhoon No. 3.

The photo posted on social media with the caption: "Heartbreaking image of a family evacuating in Ngoc Linh commune, Vi Xuyen district, Ha Giang province…" easily received thousands of likes, shares, and comments online.

A video clip of a child in a mountainous region sobbing, accompanied by the caption: " So heartbreaking, the water swept away mother and child, and they can't be found anywhere ," has brought tears to the eyes of many viewers, elicited thousands of messages of sympathy, and hundreds of kind hearts offered their support.

However, when the photo went viral and became a trend on social media, the leaders of the People's Committee of Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province, immediately had to issue a clarification stating that " The image above is just one of the contents created by a YouTuber during the flood season ." And Ms. Mai Thi Xoan – the homeroom teacher of the child in the video, teaching at Ma Pi Leng school (Meo Vac District, Ha Giang) – also had to go online to confirm that the child wasn't crying because her mother was swept away by the flood, but because she was following her mother to the fields. She still has both parents. The video was filmed a year ago, not recently.

These individuals create fake accounts impersonating government agencies or reputable organizations to solicit charitable donations for flood victims.

Notably, taking advantage of the concern, sympathy, and solidarity of many people nationwide with their compatriots in the northern provinces and cities, several fake Fanpages have been created to solicit charitable donations. These individuals create fake accounts impersonating state agencies or reputable organizations; they even use images and information similar to official pages to encourage benevolent individuals to donate and transfer money to personal accounts for fraudulent purposes. In reality, many people have mistakenly given their love and trust to the wrong people.

Furthermore, information is circulating online stating, " For those without electricity or Wi-Fi, you can enter any of the following commands to get internet access: 3ST4G send to 191, 4G send to 191, ZP send to 191, 5GKM send to 191, ST15_4G send to 191, ST15N_4G send to 191. All are free from Viettel ."

Given the widespread problem of fake news, authorities advise citizens to carefully verify information before sharing it and to enhance their self-protection skills. They should only follow official government sources and reputable news organizations to obtain accurate information and minimize the risks of online scams or becoming victims of malicious individuals online.

At its peak, late on September 12th, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front announced 12,028 pages of bank statements detailing the total amount of money donated nationwide to people affected by natural disasters, storms, and floods. As of 5 PM on September 12th, the total amount transferred by organizations and individuals to the Central Relief Campaign Committee's account was 527.8 billion VND. The Central Relief Campaign Committee also published a detailed list of organizations and individuals who donated via Vietcombank account number 0011001932418 from September 1st to September 10th, 2024.

Immediately after the list was published, it received widespread community support due to the transparency of the authorities in providing aid to flood-affected areas. Many expressed the hope that all the donated money would soon reach the people, to repair bridges, roads, schools, and health centers, and to alleviate some of the material and emotional losses, especially for those who lost loved ones, had their homes destroyed, or lost their entire crops.

However, from these more than 12,000 bank statements, the online community has discovered numerous cases where celebrities publicly donated large sums of money to flood victims on their personal pages, but the bank statements only showed meager amounts.

For example, an account named Pham Nhu Phuong transferred 500,000 VND on September 9th. This transaction has many details similar to the screenshot of the transfer that the former gymnast posted on her personal page. However, the amount is different. In the posted image, although the amount is not publicly displayed, readers can see that the amount is in the hundreds of millions of VND, but the bank statement only shows a mere 500,000 VND.

Vietnamese TikToker Viet Anh Pi Po posted a video admitting to faking and putting on a show when posting images supporting flood victims.

Take the case of Vietnamese TikToker Viet Anh Pi Po. Previously, this TikToker shared a screenshot of a donation to flood victims totaling eight figures. However, upon checking the bank statement, many discovered that the account holder, Viet Anh Pi Po, had only donated 1,000,000 VND. On the afternoon of September 13th, he had to go online to admit to "faking it." Following this incident, many opinions suggest that in the age of Industry 4.0, it's best to prohibit cash donations and instead encourage all donations to be sent to bank accounts for transparency and easier auditing.

It's safe to say that exploiting a nationally significant event for likes, views, and personal gain is nothing new. It's like an "epidemic" for which the vaccine seems insufficient. From seeking likes to boost personal page engagement to spreading fake news for profit or engaging in charitable scams, these practices are becoming increasingly common. Amidst the floods and the grief of our compatriots in the northern provinces and across the country, such actions are heartless, reprehensible, and deserve to be condemned and eradicated.

Images of the damage caused by the storms and floods speak volumes about the tragedy and sorrow they cause. Therefore, TikTokers and Facebook users don't need to act or use staged scenes to further exacerbate that pain and loss. Viewers also need to be vigilant, reject, and report posts that violate the rules, helping to limit the spread of inaccurate images and video clips.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/cau-like-truc-loi-truc-noi-dau-cua-dong-bao-la-toi-ac-345779.html