Scammers used AI-generated images and fake fundraising accounts on social media platforms to deceive people into donating to fraudulent earthquake relief efforts for Turkey and Syria, channeling donations away from legitimate charities.
Following devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that killed over 35,000 people, scammers exploited the disaster to create fraudulent donation campaigns across multiple platforms. On TikTok Live, fake accounts posted looped footage and photos of destruction while soliciting digital gifts, with one account using a 2018 image from Syria misrepresented as current earthquake footage. On Twitter, scammers shared AI-generated images created using Midjourney software, including a fake image of a firefighter rescuing a child that contained telltale AI errors like six fingers on one hand. These posts linked to cryptocurrency wallets for donations, with some wallet addresses previously used in spam and pornographic content. Fake PayPal fundraising accounts were also created, including @TurkeyRelief which raised $900 but included $500 donated by the page creator to appear legitimate. Security expert Ax Sharma noted that scammers specifically targeted accounts claiming to be in Turkey despite PayPal not operating there since 2016. The fraudulent campaigns diverted donations away from legitimate relief efforts, with platforms like PayPal and Twitter eventually suspending the fake accounts after they were identified.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed