The crisis in Ukraine as the people try to survive the Russian war machine brings out the best in many people around the world – doing what they can to help the refugees – buying goods to send to the border, making donations, emailing Russians to tell them the truth, boycotting all Russian made goods and so on.
But there are some lowlife scumbags who want to take advantage of that goodwill to steal for themselves.
These sub humans set up fake charities, send out emails saying that purchases of cyber currency will aid the Ukrainians in the war, offering to buy goods to send out there but all the while just keeping the money for themselves.
Watch out for unsolicited emails telling you to buy cybercurrency to become a “friend to Ukraine”, charities that have only just been set up and anything on social media that cannot be separately verified.
If people in your neighbourhood are working to help the Ukrainian refuges and need help then go along and see for yourself what they are doing and make sure it is legitimate.
It is true that the Ukrainian government are claimed to have more than $54 million from Bitcoin donations, but it’s very difficult to be sure than cyber currency donations actually get to where they claim.
To stay safe and not give money to criminals:
- Donate to well established national charities e,g, the Red Cross, Unicef, Christian Aid or DEC Ukraine
- Be wary of crowdfunding and social media fundraising appeals: Some are fake and some are well meaning but mismanaged.
- Do not respond to cold calls asking for help for Ukraine – these are almost guaranteed to be scammers.
- Beware brand new charities – a legitimate charity will not pressure you to make a donation immediately.
If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.
