I miss when I would get Tumblr asks that actually said things and weren't just digital panhandling scams.
If I was a sociologist, I would definitely be doing a study on the methods and language of charity scammers. Especially the use of emojis, and identification by copied messages vs stock phrases.
For example, these four are all the same, with only slight variation in #1:
(I actually have duplicates from some of the "self-identified" anons above.)
But these two anons share the same new stock phrases:
"days are heavy" / "days that feel impossibly heavy."
Fascinated with the random person who commented on this post saying they've reported me for "genocide denialism."
Not to put too fine a tin foil hat on it, but:
That is the kind of threat someone involved in these kinds of financial scams and the social engineering behind them *would* make! It's a threatening statement to the existence of my blog which usually means heightened fear/anxiety of the target, which makes people more likely to fall for a financial scam. Social shame and embarrassment are also heightened emotions! Bullying works! This would make an excellent social engineering counterpoint (if tugging on heartstrings doesn't work!) and might even be effective on many people!
Sure, you can search the supposed connected usernames those anons claimed and find out specifics that way â but not a single one of those screenshots I showed specifies what they're referring to! The IDENTICAL messages from four "different people" never actually mention what their "family's struggle" even is! There's zero fucking context in the space of those messages. They're all IDENTICAL. I literally cannot be committing denialism about anything specific because those asks don't actually say anything I could be denying. How does this person know that these anons aren't a recently impoverished Nigerian prince?
So now you're asking why don't I just click on the usernames and find out more details? Simple. Because they're fucking fraudsters who sent me the same message like, six times with 4 different usernames attached AS ANONS. Why as anons if they have their own blogs and could send the messages that way? SIMPLE AGAIN: because if they're not logged into the blog accounts, you could have whole teams of people copying and pasting these anon asks to various Tumblr users constantly, and you can probably just bypass the ask limits by changing VPNs or going incognito or something. This is a DEDICATED scam. Is it a bot? MAYBE! But that also would explain some of why it doesn't work *while logged in* to the blog accounts â because being anon probably makes it easier to focus on volume.
Anyways a fool and their money are soon parted.
While we're on the subject of the incredible gullibility some people display on these scams, I'd just like to remind everyone that most online scams these days are being run out of massive scam farms, which often employ human trafficking.
Falling for these isn't just an 'oopsy doopsy, you're out some money' sort of a thing. If you send money to obvious scammers and if you platform obvious scammers, you are very likely directly financially supporting modern day slavery. That's not an exaggeration, and I'm not being alarmist. Please read any of these articles on the subject if you don't believe me:
Tens of thousands of people from across Asia have been coerced into defrauding people in America and around the world out of millions of dol
A man was abducted by a Chinese gang and forced to work in a scam operation. He gathered financial information, photos and videos and shared
Traffickers are forcing thousands of people from across Asia to work in online scam centres.
Myanmar youth recount life inside a cyber-scam mill before a cityâs fall brought the scheme crashing down.
This is what you are supporting when you send these people money. It's not a neutral act to give to these scammers; it's a horrible, evil act, because in most cases, it directly supports horrific exploitation. And if you really were fooled? If you gave to one of these scammers and you really had no idea what you were probably supporting? Then I'm sorry, but digging your heels in and insisting that the lies you were fed are the truth helps no one. Take your blinders off and face reality, and start doing better.
It's honestly a marvel to me just how lacking in basic discernment skills people are to not be able to recognize GLARINGLY OBVIOUS scams when they see them.
They don't want to give to real, reputable charities that post their financials publicly and are subject to rigorous review by legitimate watchdog organizations. They don't think Doctors without Borders is "trustworthy" but they'll believe any lie some random with an internet connection will tell them just because he calls himself Mohammad his blog is listed on an anonymous google doc titled Vetted List linked in the profile of a blog calling itself vettersblog.
#and doesnât it also contribute to not like denial#but some form of apathy?#cause Iâm working on my reactions (therapy style) but find myself getting knee jerk frustrated when I see real posts that HAVE been vetted#and thatâs directly because of the scam asks
@tears-n-tarot with all do respect, you absolutely have not seen any real posts that have been vetted. All of the scam posts are claiming to have been vetted. The people they claim to have been vetted by are also obviously scammers. You are literally just believing strangers on the internet who are calling themselves vetters with zero credentials and zero transparency.
Donate to REAL CHARITIES not tumblr sob stories: https://www.charitywatch.org/
And in the larger scheme,
The less money people donate to real charities, the more deperate people are forced to sacrifice their dignity and become dancing monkeys on the internet, begging for scraps my parseling out painful details of their personal lives. It is so much better for people in need if they can get what they need from a legitimate charity and don't have to resort to publizing the details of their personal tragedies on the internet, where those tragedies can easily be looked up by, say, future employers or ICE.
PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SACRIFICE THEIR PRIVACY FOR CHARITY. The best way to save people in need from having to resort to this is to ignore the sob stories and donate to reputable organizations.
This is not a charity platform, this is not a fundraising platform. People in a war zone are not thinking "i know, i'll go on tumblr dot come and raise some money so i can go to the bombed out hospital with no supplies and get treatment for my injuries which they won't give me unless i pay them" or whatever.
I will never give money through tumblr. I have donated to Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and United Palestinian Appeal. (and you can too)
These are verified and rated by Charity Navigator, which tracks things like their tax documents (non-profits legally have to make their tax information public) and what percentage of every dollar donated goes directly to food or treatment etc, and how much goes to the administrative costs of running the organization itself (charity navigator started because a couple of large popular charities were spending like 70% of every dollar on running the charity, meaning if you donated ten dollars only three dollars was actually helping the cause. Now there is an easy way for the public to see this kind of information and big charities are having to do better)
Help hospitals and doctors, help food banks and relief efforts. Donate to these organizations that can actually provide impactful help.
I wonder how much money in total has gone from tumblr users straight into the pockets of those who kidnap people and force them to scam folks, and how much good that money could have done if it had actually been donated to an organization that provides real help. When you donate to these scammers (which you can easily see are operating exactly like the porn bots in the comments too) at best you are helping some asshole buy a car or something; at worst you are funding literal slavery.
Donate in a way guaranteed to help people in need.
