Online scams around Gaza War is more in the picture

« In my tent I need a nurse who can take care of me, » says Wael (41), apparently a doctor from Gaza, in a message on Facebook Messenger. « But I have to pay her 600 euros. » That night, around two o’clock, he sends a message again. « Pray for me. They are bombing us. »

David Johnson (77) from Greece transferred 7,000 euros to Wael in one month. According to Johnson, they are internet lovers. But in reality, Wael is not a Palestinian doctor and did not lose his entire family within one week as a result of the war.

Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, scammers have been abusing public sympathy and solidarity. For example, online scammers are looking for people who want to donate money to Palestinians in Nood. The scammers act as residents of Gaza by stealing their identity.

Although hard figures are missing, the charity fraud around the Gaza war fits into a broader increase in cyber crime. Bitdefender, an international software company specialized in cyber protection, confirms that there is an increase in online scams in connection with the war in Gaza. Alina Bizga, safety analyst at the software company: « We also notice that scammers make more and more use of tools controlled by AI (artificial intelligence) to commit charity fraud. » Bitdefender has no exact figures of the number of incidents.

The scammers abuse photos and videos of real Palestinian families on social media or crowdfunding websites such as Gofundme. Or they steal statues of random people who have a central aneria or North African appearance.

The Fraudhelpdesk, the most important reporting point for attempts for online scams in the Netherlands, says it has not received any reports of this kind scams. Charities Nederland-which verifies charity organizations-and various Dutch-Islamic charities also say they are not aware. But they « are shocked. »

Palestinian journalists and vloggers in the Gaza Strip warn of scammers who are involved in identity fraud. For example, they expose fake accounts that ask for money under their name. This happened, among other things BISAN OWDAa journalist with nearly five million followers on Instagram. Also the teenage influencer Nana was a victim. A YouTube account has been created under her name with more than half a million subscribers.

The scammers are mainly active on social media such as Facebook and Tumblr. They usually send a message themselves, with sometimes very credible and detailed emergency situations in which they would be. All scammers respond to the emotions of potential donors, but they don’t all have the same tactics. One presents himself as a journalist in Gaza with the aim of showing the rest of the world what happens there. But he can only do that with the money he gets from you. And then you are also part of something bigger according to him: visualizing injustice.

There are also real Palestinians in between, which are no longer in Gaza, but have moved or fled to a safe location somewhere abroad. And other scammers are fishing with love declarations donors inside. They try to seduce people-as in the case of Johnson, which was scammed by the Palestinian fake doctor.

In love with the scammer

« Wael would come and live with me in Greece, » says Johnson. According to him, their conversations became erotic and more intense. « I sent him pictures of my apartment, he sent me photos of mass sluts. » According to Johnson, the photos were so precisely timed with what really happened at the time that it was difficult to doubt. Videobellen was not an option, he says. Too dangerous, a live connection makes you an easier target, the scammer told him.

Only when Wael asked him even more money, Johnson got suspiciously. A Palestinian friend of Johnson has staff from the hospital in the Palestinian city of Deir El-Balah, where Wael would work. « Through that friend I received an official email from the hospital with that Wael has never been employed by them. »

Johnson did not find out who the cyber criminal is. But who the person is in the photos: a Palestinian man who lives in Venezuela. Johnson informed him about the identity fraud, but the man didn’t do much. « The feeling that I had lost my future with Wael has made me more upset than my lost money, » says Johnson. He now has contact with another man from Gaza. He shows the screensaver of his phone, a photo of the man. « I will soon go to the Palestinian embassy to arrange that he can come here. »

$ 14,000 lost

After Johnson has been scammed, he joined the group Gaza Scams Taskforce On Facebook. A group with hundreds of members who are victims of charity fraud. In the group they warn potential donors for scamming practices, share their experiences and try to unmask scammers.

The Facebook group was founded by the Israeli Shira (48). She and her wife donated more than $ 14,000 to digital scammers. Shira is planning to tighten a lawsuit against them, her full name and that of the SCAM family are therefore not mentioned. They are with NRC known.

After Johnson has been scammed, he joins ‘Gaza Scams Taskforce’ on Facebook

« Because of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, I left Israel ten years ago, » says the Shira, who lived in the Israeli city of Haifa. Now she lives on a farm in Bulgaria and regularly donates to Palestinian families in need. At the end of 2023 she sent a woman from Gaza a message on Facebook because she felt compassion. « She needed money to evacuate her family to Brazil. » Spread in a few months, Shira thought he had donated money for airline tickets and visas for nine family members. That turned out not to be the case. A week after the family was brought to safety, she found out that the evacuations were paid by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that they received an asylum status. Other members of the Facebook group have also been scammed by this family, they post in the private group. According to Shira, the family is an organized group of scammers who have made their full -time work. The family is still active; Their messages receive thousands of likes as standard. « I reported it to the Brazilian and Bulgarian police, » says Shira.

Real-time AI

The French Emma (42) is also in the Gaza Scams Taskforce On Facebook. She thought she would help a Palestinian journalist: “Via Gofundme, a girlfriend and I picked up more than 900 dollars for him. They thought they had checked everything. The journalist even sent a movie in which he mentioned her girlfriend’s name. But suddenly Emma no longer got access to her Facebook account. To earn? ”, He replied via Instagram. The girlfriends decided to video Facebook’s journalist. For his safety they had not done that before.

The journalist on Facebook opened his camera and had a conversation with them. But five minutes later there was one glitch. « The face of a man from Bangladesh appeared for a few seconds. » The man turned out to be using ‘real-time’ AI. An AI program ensured that he had the face and voice of the real journalist during the live connection.

Emma and her girlfriend reported this to Gofundme. The donations have been refunded.

Verification

To prevent this kind of practices, Rina Idrus (46), from the Maldives, has the group Radio Watermelon Founded on X and Discord. In that group, she checks online requests together with other volunteers and also check whether people are really in the Gaza Strip.

« In our database there are around 650 Palestinian families that we have verified. » The group organizes verification sessions via Discord several times a week. They have a video call with a Palestinian man. He films the area with his phone. In his slippers he walks over the sand, past improvised tents and walls with bullet holes. « Last week my father was murdered, I wore him one and a half kilometers on my shoulders to the cemetery, » says the man. The internet connection sometimes falls away. Idrus and her husband have seen enough. On X they write a message that the man and his account are legitimate.

To share

Mail the editors