Some tips on how to spot a blog that’s trying to scam you by pretending to be in Palestine:
Check the date of the pinned post if they have one. It likely is only a few hours old at best or a few days old.
Check how many posts the account has and if they’re all just reblogs of a trending post or popular post. Usually scammers reblog just a few then nothing else. Their only original post is the pinned one and maybe a few asks they answered.
Search the contents of their pinned post/aid post and see if it comes up on a real fundraiser site. Scammers tend to steal their info off of real people and real fundraisers hoping no one will notice. They’ll claim their fundraiser is pending but they don’t run or own anything they’re taking from. Some will even steal names to impersonate people.
You’ll only get these asks if you actively post about Palestine or share Palestine related posts. These accounts will often share the same posts then contact you via asks asking you to share their post. They will continue asking even if you tell them you don’t have money. They won’t read your blog so even having a ‘don’t sent donation asks’ in the bio or pinned won’t stop them. They just want you to share their post and won’t take no for an answer.
Often times you’ll get the same ask from entirely different accounts or the ask is tweaked by using parts of another ask. But the post itself will always be the same as the previous account before it was removed for being a scam. These scammers reuse the same exact ask so often searching the ask will pull up past accounts who sent it.
The pfp and images are often stolen from the real fundraiser that the scammers have copied. When you call them out on it, they’ll usually send you hate mail instead of explaining anything. And then block you only to send you the same mutual aid ask from another blog because they think you won’t notice.
If you answer these asks, and know it’s a scam, call out the scammer and link to legitimate fundraisers or useful links to verified charities. This way the scammers ask will be seen if searched and people who see it will find sources for supporting actual people.
Not all mutual aid posts for Palestine is a scam. It’s just suggested to do some research into a brand new account asking you for money. Please support verified charities and fundraisers made by people who have confirmed their legitimacy in some way or have proved they are the person that it was made for. It’s unfortunate these scams are happening, but they do exist.
btw it wont be the first or last time i say it but sheezy.art is cool.
if youre an artist and youve been looking for somewhere to actually make friends/form an art community rather than just sadly refreshing your feed for likes/rbs i would recommend sheezy.art!
it's in beta rn and theres a timer that lets 10 people register every few hours, but theres also a kofi you can support thatll just let you register right away
the website's staff and multiple friends were the ones who brought the site to my attention (thank you lemmy), and every who ive met/talked to there has been super active and sweet ^_^ ik social media can be kind of daunting if you do art for fun so now its my turn to push you guys towards the site