Taking advantage of natural disasters to call for charity, be careful before every click

As many localities are struggling with heavy rains, flooding and landslides, the spirit of mutual love continues to spread strongly in the community. However, at the very moment when people across the country turn to the disaster areas, bad guys are taking advantage of the tragic situation to create fake appeals for relief, turning kindness into a sophisticated scam.

The Explosion of Calls for Support and the Emotional Traps Set

According to Nghe An Provincial Police, the subjects often impersonate charitable organizations, press agencies, volunteer groups... to create social media accounts (Facebook, Zalo, TikTok...) or websites, post heartbreaking images and videos (which can be edited or taken from unverified sources), along with calls for donations of money and goods to help people in disaster areas. Some common tricks include:

- Impersonating celebrities, authorities or reputable organizations to gain trust, then calling for money transfers into personal accounts.

- Posting false information or exaggerating damage, appealing to people's compassion to gain support without verification.

- Use images of children, the elderly, collapsed houses, and tragic losses to stir emotions and urge viewers to transfer money immediately.

- Organizing "virtual charity trips", posting fake photos or old photos to falsely report having gone to provide relief.

These acts not only cause financial losses to people but also destroy the society's trust in genuine charitable activities, affecting the reputation of truly caring and responsible individuals and organizations. In particular, taking advantage of natural disasters for personal gain can also be related to high-tech crimes or exploited by bad forces for political purposes.

At the end of October, when flash floods caused localized flooding in the Central region, Ms. Tran Thu Ha (34 years old, Hanoi ) continuously saw posts calling for relief on Facebook. An account using the name "Thien Nguyen Group Towards the Central Region" posted a video of children trapped on the roof, along with a plea: "We really need everyone to join hands, just 100,000 VND can help provide a meal for people in the flooded area."

Seeing the heartbreaking image, Ms. Ha immediately transferred 5 million VND to the account number provided by the group. However, just a few days later, she discovered that the “heartbreaking” video had been posted since 2021, and the “group leader” account had disappeared, not responding to messages. The contact phone number was also blocked.

Ms. Ha shared regretfully: “I simply thought of helping people in need, but I didn’t expect to help the wrong person. From then on, I understood why the police always recommend verifying before donating.”

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Phuc (29 years old, Vinh City) recounted his own story: He followed a TikTok account with more than 50,000 followers, who often posted videos of delivering gifts to children in the highlands. When heavy rains caused landslides in the North, this account posted a clip of him “on the way to provide relief”, calling for support for food costs.

Believing in his “fame,” Mr. Phuc transferred 2 million VND to the personal account sent via text message. However, a few days later, the real content creator’s official TikTok warned: the other account was fake, arbitrarily taking old videos and calling for donations for profit.

More seriously, the scammer also used Mr. Phuc’s profile picture, after he interacted, to create a new Facebook account, continuing to scam others. He had to ask his friends to report the fake account and report it to the police.

Mr. Phuc said: “Not only did I lose money, but my identity was also taken advantage of. If I hadn’t discovered it in time, they could have used my picture to scam more people.”

Be alert before every charity click

Cybersecurity expert Le Phuoc Hoa, co-founder of the Anti-Fraud Project (chongluadao.vn) recommends that people be cautious when receiving information calling for charity on social networks: These scammers often use images and content of real heartbreaking cases to create sympathy and call for donations, but use their own personal accounts to collect money. Although social networking sites like Facebook have managed and removed some violations, many other fake pages are still being created continuously.

Faced with that situation, the police agency recommends people:

- Only support and donate through licensed, reputable agencies, organizations and associations with transparency in accounts, recipient lists and gift distribution.

- Be wary of calls for support via social networks of unknown origin, especially from personal accounts whose identities cannot be verified or appear to be urgent or urgent.

- Do not share or spread unverified information about damage caused by natural disasters to avoid unintentionally assisting bad guys.

- When detecting signs of fraud or impersonation of a charity organization, immediately report to the nearest police station or contact the provincial police hotline for timely handling instructions.

(Photo: Department of Information Security)

The situation of property fraud on the Internet is increasingly complex and unpredictable with many new and extremely sophisticated tricks. To combat these types of fraud, the Information Security Department recommends that people should carefully learn about charity and support activities on social networks. This is a condemnable situation when taking advantage of the kindness of philanthropists for personal gain, causing people to lose trust in real charity activities.

“Therefore, in order for kindness to be properly directed, people with a good heart should choose funds and charity programs organized by the State, organizations, social funds, and charity funds licensed by competent authorities. In case of suspicion of fraud or property appropriation, it is necessary to report to the nearest police agency for timely handling,” the Information Security Department recommends.

In any circumstances, the spirit of humanity and the tradition of “helping each other” are always noble values of the Vietnamese people. However, in the digital age, people need to be alert and work with the police force to choose the right place, the right person, and the right target when carrying out volunteer activities, contributing to preventing acts of taking advantage of natural disasters for personal gain, protecting the purity of humanitarian activities and maintaining security and order in the area.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/loi-dung-thien-tai-de-keu-goi-tu-thien-can-than-truoc-moi-cu-click-post2149070459.html