IT security specialists from Bitdefender discovered immediately after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria fake humanitarian campaigns created with the aim of deceiving donors interested in helping the victims. Hackers use a fictitious Ukrainian charity to lure victims.

In a campaign discovered immediately after the earthquake, fraudsters posed as representatives of a Ukrainian charity whose mission is to raise funds to help victims of these tragedies. “We are launching a campaign to support people in Turkey and Syria who have been badly affected by the earthquake that has left them homeless. The Volodymyr Foundation has taken on the responsibility of providing assistance on the ground to help as many people as possible. We urge you to make sacrifices.”

Most of the fraudulent messages originate from IP addresses in Pakistan. Hackers use a fictitious Ukrainian charity to lure victims. The domain hosting the alleged fund was created on October 3, 2022 and has already been detected by Bitdefender’s spam and fraud filters. This fake organization, which was originally founded to help victims of the war in Ukraine, appears to have temporarily changed its mission and is targeting donations to victims of the devastating earthquake.

Cryptocurrency wallets and the name of this fake charity were also used in a previous spam campaign asking for help for Ukrainian war refugees.

Another online fraud campaign is unfolding in the context of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. This time, the cybercriminals claim to represent a global charity that works with UNICEF and is asking for donations to support children and families in both countries.

Unlike other scams we’ve seen so far, recipients are asked to email the organization to learn more about how to donate. With this type of interaction, users not only confirm their email address, but also expose themselves to new attacks in the future. In addition, they risk providing additional personal and financial information.

“These campaigns are a wake-up call for the wave of misleading and fraudulent messages to come. Criminals always try to take advantage of people’s vulnerability and feelings in the context of natural disasters and use the sympathy of the online community to steal personal information and money. Although these treacherous actions are nothing new, they can be quite effective in stealing money from naive and generous people,” says Alina Bizga, Bitdefender IT Security Specialist.

Recommendations to avoid falling into the network of criminals

Internet users should be vigilant at this time and think carefully before donating to a charity, especially when they receive such unsolicited emails. Poorly worded, unofficial messages and cryptocurrency donations are serious concerns that require special caution.

People who want to help those in need can contact reputable charities through official pages that allow payments.

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