Reports of Ukraine charity scams begin to surface

By Derek Craddock

Saskatchewan residents are donating by the millions to help Ukraine, but unfortunately a few scammers are trying to take advantage of that goodwill.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, three different scams have been reported in the past couple of weeks, mostly through social media.

One report stated someone posted a message in a Facebook group telling people to send her money personally so she could forward it to her friend in Ukraine.

However, she could not provide proof that she actually knows the person and was asked why she was not using GoFundMe, GiveSendGo, or another fundraising app.

In a response, which has since been removed, she claimed to not use those sites or organizations like the Red Cross because she wanted to make sure the money goes in the proper hands.

Another reported scam is on Instagram, where a user posts that she’s holding a raffle, asking people to deposit money through e-transfer. She’s asking for people to send $20 for one ticket and $50 for three.

Currently, there is no charity linked to the post and while the woman claims it’s a raffle, she is not sharing where the money will go after the draw.

According to the report, the user has done this in the past by trying to raise funds for natural disaster relief, but the funds were never allocated to any charity.

Finally, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said one person reported being contacted by someone posing as the British Red Cross soliciting money to buy bitcoin to support relief in Ukraine.

The centre said none of those who filed the reports fell victim to the scams and all reports were sent anonymously.

The Saskatchewan RCMP told paNOW that so far, it hasn’t received any complaints regarding charity frauds for Ukraine. The Mounties encourage anyone who sees such a scam to contact them and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.