@Bliss I don’t trust easily, I have seen so many scams that it is hard for me to believe.

@Jorro

i had one guy pretending he was my insurance company insisting i give him my insurance id # which is safe because its not my ss #

I then asked for his name and began hittting keys on my laptop.
"Spell that for me please". I continue hitting keys.
"Ok, one moment while I use my IT tools to reverse trace the location address of this call."
A second later the guy hung up. That's how I knew it was a scammer.

The pox on them!

@Bliss they are becoming more sophisticated, they know how the system works, that is why they are more dangerous and we have to be more careful.

@Jorro

I totally agree

@MLClark I don’t trust easily, I have seen many scams, in my job we have been victims of them because my boss trusts people, ironically the scammers have been the ones that say “ I’m a Christian “ or “ God bless you “, we also live in an era where you can manipulate pictures, videos and all that stuff , to me it would be better if it were through an organization, , I lost my confidence in humanity.

@Jorro

When the war in Tigray broke out, one of the first horrific realizations I had was that none of my go-to NGOs could reach people in need. Armies wouldn't let them. War breaks down organizational response.

I know here on CoSo there's a bit of a bubble, so people here aren't as acclimated to seeing the suffering in Gaza. It must be shocking to have it suddenly show up in your feed, but families have been reaching out small-scale, the same as GoFundMes are used in the US, from the start.

@Jorro

This isn't to say that scams don't happen, but that's true for all GoFundMes, so if the skepticism is simply because people in a war scenario are sharing fundraisers for surgeries to remove lingering shrapnel, and not for someone from Kansas who needs help with the funeral costs for their pet parrot, it's worth considering that part of the suspicion here simply comes from the type of ask being outside your usual exposure set.

@MLClark I understand that but I don’t donate to those causes ( the parrot guy from Kansas ) or similar, how can you be sure you are donating to real people with those problems?

@Jorro

The same as for any other fundraiser; these sites are set up by people who can be investigated, and are.

When it comes to folks in Gaza, sites like Instagram & TikTok make it super easy to see the person involved, & other social media follows the same pattern of introducing you to the full family. It's no different than any other fundraiser.

So if you're not a fan of fundraisers, not an issue!

But war-based GoFundMes are no more likely to be scams than ones for medical bills at home.

@Jorro

Our society has so thoroughly degraded, in terms of our overall social welfare, that I'm awash in everyday calls on social media for help with rent, electrical bills, medical fees, etc - "If 65 people could Venmo $10, you'd be doing this disabled single mom of four a great kindness!" just showed up on BlueSky today.

It doesn't help that there are tons of scams online.

There's also a lot of unmet need and people suffering.

Tough to navigate it all with any sanity intact!

@MLClark yes, it doesn’t help all that , maybe I just think everything is bad when it is not and maybe the problem is in me , I’m just skeptical.

@Jorro

I wouldn't say it's just you; fear of scams has skyrocketed alongside the wide range of new online scams afflicting young and old demographics (younger people more often, but older people for higher financial hits).

The problem is that this fear reflects an overall rise in small-c conservative distrust in shared systems, which has huge consequences for our politics. A lot of bad *political* actors benefit from us losing our trust in systems in general.

So it's not you! It's The Times.

@MLClark yes, these are difficult times, and just when people need help.

@gemswinc yes it is !! I received three “ follows “ in the last couple of days, for a profile like mine it is a lot , everyone ignores me there 🤣🤣🤣, the only reason I’m still there is because I follow there some people that used to be in the former #birdsite , I honestly prefer to be ignored than to read all the non sense that people post on the dead bird . But I have seen more of that kind of activity in other accounts with more followers.

@Jorro The pictures of the posts you showed, wouldn't lure me into donating. Follow your instincts!

@gemswinc yes!! I will !!!! Thanks !! It is just that I have seen many , and social media is a good place to do it , the clear example is what is happening in #truthsocial , how many people have been scammed there , I don’t want to be part of the statistics, it is just too difficult for me, we work hard to earn some money and give it away just like that ?

@Jorro Scams are everywhere, and yes, those poor dumb folks scammed on All-Lies-All-The-Time Social

@gemswinc just this morning I had two new followers!! All of them from Gaza, in this screenshot there are 7, the two on top from this morning, it looks suspicious to me , really.

@Jorro I'd block all of them

@Jorro Find a reputable agency/charity to send help

@gemswinc yes, that is the best option, I will google that, and yes, I think I will block them , it is safer .

@Jorro I remember early on, on Twitter, being swarmed by Russian follows. Didn't know why at the time. Age of innocence

@gemswinc they say it is worse now !! There is nothing attractive about twitter, for all those who had thousands of followers? Many lives to other platforms, why wasting time there ?

@danielbsmith yes, it is happening a lot there too!! I don’t know if BlueSky has the same level of security that we enjoy here , maybe I’m used to the high security level in #Coso , we never get to see scammers , when we see trolls ( which is not often) “ J “ takes care of the problem almost immediately, in other platforms they are slow, maybe we are spoiled here ? There is no other platform like this one .

@AnnetteTRemain that was my first thought!! And if I show you every one of them you will be surprised , it just makes me doubt it, like this one , we struggle in this country where we have stability to make end meet , how can you have that after a year of war and a destroyed country?

@Jorro that photo looks strangely edited although I did not zoom in on it.

@AnnetteTRemain my other question is , how are they going to access that money? I have absolutely no idea what the situation is right now there , like banks for example, can they get the money through them ? Or debit/credit cards ? I have no idea .

@Pippy those places really suck , truly, no wonder there are rumors that Elon wants to sell the dead bird .

@Jorro and he throughly screwed it up! 😂

@Pippy he did !!🤣🤣🤣🤣