With images from earthquake V Turkey And Syria “freeze” the entire planet, and while rescuers are still working on the ruins, shrewd they step on human suffering and try to use the wave of solidarity towards the two countries to make money.

In fact, for this purpose, they even recruited… digitally made – an image in which a Greek firefighter holds a child in his arms. This image was allegedly taken with a program artificial intelligence “Road” Major General E.A. fire brigade, Panagiotis Kotridis.

And many may have thought that this is a real picture (ignoring the fireman’s six fingers), but some went further. “Friends, we have launched a campaign to help the people affected by the devastating earthquake in Turkey,” writes one astute Twitter user, asking donations in bitcoin and ethereum.

Friends, we have launched a campaign to help people affected by the earthquake in Turkey.

bitcoin: 1Jn3C4GiFCzERTWd6nvCc4hTzvK8Viz88y

et: 0x2cff2ad8f75f68bf4ec5a478e5057b7c348dd61d

#AMAgiaAconteceNoBBB pic.twitter.com/9vKv7cKpS9

— Hassan YAKUP (@EYTHsnykp) February 9, 2023

This user made the same post eight times within 12 hours. One of the two “donation” accounts was again used for fraud, while the other appeared with pornographic content on the Russian social network VKontakte.

“My goal is to help the earthquake victims if I manage to raise money. People are cold in the wreckage, especially babies are not being given food,” a user of this account told the BBC, although later – when asked for evidence – he stated that he had a “poor internet connection”.

Beware of PayPal Donations

This is not the only scam that emerged in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that killed more than 35,000 people in Syria and Turkey. In fact, with the help of artificial intelligence programs, it is very easy to create the image of a “fireman in a helmet with a Greek flag rescuing a child from the rubble after an earthquake.”

As far as Twitter scammers are concerned, they usually retweet news articles V they reply to celebrity tweets and companies for more information. It is obvious that these accounts are fake and the money ends up in their pockets.

For example, a bill @TurkeyRelief (which was removed from Twitter) was only created last January, has 31 followers, and has been asking for donations via PayPal. In fact, he managed to raise at least $900.

Eat more than 100 such accounts for donations to victims of the earthquake in St. PayPal. Experts advise caution for those residing in Turkey as PayPal has ceased operations in the country since 2016.

Scammers on TikTok too

V tik takusers post photos and videos of the wreckage, accompanied by phrases such as “Pray for Turkey” and “Let’s help Turkey”, requesting physical money either via Paypal or cryptocurrency.

One account ran for three hours, showing low-quality aerial photographs of damaged buildings to the sound of explosions. At some point, laughter is heard and a voice speaks … in Chinese.

In another video on TikTok, a child is seen running from the explosion. OUR same image it was also used in 2018 when Turkish forces and their allies captured the city of Afrin in northwestern Syria from the Kurds.

In addition to the fact that the money from such donations does not go to humanitarian organizations, it is noted that TikTok withholds up to 70% commission.

Internet security experts advise caution, especially in anonymous accounts requesting small amountsas usually larger organizations campaign and ask for large sums to meet the needs of earthquake victims.