GREENSBORO, N.C. — Any world event is an opportunity for scammers. The conflict between Israel and Hamas is no different. People all over the world are looking for ways to donate to humanitarian efforts, and scammers are flooding the internet with fake sites.
"Social media in general is used as a funnel to direct people to these fake sites," said Yoav Keren, CEO of Brandshield. The cyber security company was hired by United Hatzalah after the charity found numerous fake sites using their name and pictures.
Keren says if you see a post on social media asking you to donate, don't click the link. Anytime it's put right in front of you like an Instagram, X, or Facebook post, there's a good chance it's not real.
"We started our detection of impersonations and we found 15 different items phishing sites and social media profiles that were impersonating and trying to direct people to fake donation sites," said Keren.
Fifteen sites! And they all look so close to the real site, that most people would not be able to tell them apart. So where do you even start?
The URL is a good place to start. But, as you will see from the pictures of the two sites, the fake sites kind of look like they could be real.
"That's not enough because it might look like a legitimate website, the domain may look legitimate, everything on it, but it's still going to be a scam," said Keren.
Keren says, there are ways to check you're on a legitimate site using the URL. For example, check for the charity on a site like Charity Navigator or the Better Business Bureau. Both will show the ratings of charities and give you the correct URL listed. This way you can match the URLs.
Google can be your friend if you use it in the right way. 2WTK searched Charity Navigator and Israeli Help and a link from Charity Navigator brought us to a page of approved charities. You can also type in the charity name in the search bar and get the correct URL.
"If you got a donation ask from the What's App or a direct message on social media or a text message, be careful," said Keren.