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The negative side of online charity needs stronger measures to handle, deter and prevent because warning alone is not enough.
An account called out: "Anyone near this address, please help the nun. We are the Purple Love Club, which specializes in helping difficult cases. We sincerely ask you to open your hearts and share with this very pitiful situation..." The person being called for help is a nun in Lam Dong.
According to the brief account and pictures, the nun unfortunately suffered a serious kerosene burn accident. The cost of treatment at the hospital was over 140 million VND, but her circumstances were difficult. The article sent a message and called for donations to the account holder's name and account number given below. The information and the word "urgent" can touch the hearts of those with good hearts.
Another account called for support for a baby in need of skin graft surgery. A tragic accident left a baby with 15% burns, a very dangerous condition because it affects the eyes and respiratory tract. The poor mother is running around everywhere but does not have enough money to treat her child…
Below the post is the account holder's name and bank account number believed to belong to the baby's mother, along with a photo of the injured baby.
The website "xxxkiemtien" posted an article describing the situation of a female student who was on her way home to visit her father who had terminal cancer and unfortunately got into a tragic accident. The patient (supposedly) is being treated at Da Nang Hospital and has no money for treatment. Attached below is the account number for receiving help and a photo of a patient with a man who is said to be the student's father with only 53,000 VND left in his pocket...
Some other groups and websites are also posting similar charity appeals, mixing truth and falsehood in cyberspace.
Try to check the source of a photo taken from a call for support for a female student who is said to be being treated in Da Nang. Although I know it is fake news, I am still very surprised because this photo has just been posted in a major newspaper with the article "Hospital warns of fake post calling for help for poor patients".
Accordingly, in recent days, on social networking sites there have been a series of posts calling for help for a student from Quang Ngai who is studying in Da Nang.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quoc, Deputy Head of Social Work Department of Da Nang Hospital, confirmed that the information being shared on social networks about the patient's situation as above is not true.
At the same time, he said that at the end of 2023, the same post and images, content about similar situations and appeals were shared online. The Facebook page of the hospital's social work department had posted a warning to help people avoid being taken advantage of...
Regarding the "baby who did not have the cost of skin graft surgery", the image retrieved from the internet is an accident that happened in 2017 and was published in many newspapers. The incident happened in Lang Son province. The names of the characters were changed, "given" to Khanh Hoa province but the baby's online image was used to call for support.
The information calling for donations to support the "nun in Lam Dong" is based on a story posted online in 2018.
It's heartless when people use the story of a victim of an accident from 6 years ago to call for charity, just like what just happened, and even impersonate and use another person's image.
Tracing the photo's origin, it's easy to see that the photo was "borrowed" from a Vietnamese nun currently living abroad from a newspaper article.
These three stories show how fake news is created to receive charity money. Some information, when it spread, was identified as fake news by authorities and warnings were issued. For example, the case of a call for help for a student from Quang Ngai who is studying in Da Nang. But then, other websites and accounts continued to post it.
On a money-making group with more than 156,000 members, there was even a person claiming to belong to a charity who updated the female student's health condition and called for donations through the "association's" account number. He even expressed gratitude on behalf of the three female students for everyone's merit...
With the types of fake information to receive charity money, stronger measures are needed to handle, deter, and prevent, not just warning. Everyone should check the information, read official information and donate money at reputable places so that the money goes to the right address, helping the right situation in need.
The "Search by image via Google Lens" tool helps find images that have been posted. And just by operating online, anyone can "expose" the trick of impersonation, taking other people's photos online to commit fraud, especially charity fraud.
Reading the original information that appears along with the found image, internet users will not easily believe and be fooled.
