Scammers profit from Turkey-Syria earthquake

Scammers are using the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria to try to trick people into donating to fake causes, security experts have warned.

These scams claim to raise money for survivors, left without heat or water following the disasters that have killed more than 35,000 people.

Scammers are using the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria to try to trick people into donating to fake causes

But instead of helping those in need, scammers are channelling donations away from real charities, and into their own PayPal accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.

We've identified some of the main methods used by scammers, and tools you can use to double check before donating.

On TikTok Live, content creators can make money by receiving digital gifts. Now, TikTok accounts are posting photos of devastation, looped footage and recordings of TVs showing rescue efforts, whilst asking for donations.

Captions include phrases like "Let's help Turkey", "Pray for Turkey" and "Donate for earthquake victims".

One account, which was live for over three hours, showed a pixelated aerial image of destroyed buildings, accompanied by sound effects of explosions. Off-camera, a male voice laughs and speaks in Chinese. The video's caption is "Let's help Turkey. Donation".

Another video shows a picture of a distressed child running from an explosion. The livestream host's message is "Please help achieve this goal"- an apparent plea for TikTok gifts.

But the photo of the child is not from last week's earthquakes. A reverse image search found the same image had been posted on Twitter in 2018 with the caption "Stop Afrin Genocide", referring to a city in north-western Syria where Turkish forces and their allies in the Syrian opposition ousted a Kurdish militia in that year. Read More On..