The attention of Internet users to sites that are designed to deceive people who want to contribute to the humanitarian aid towards Ukraine draws the ESET, one of the world's best-known cybersecurity companies.
Specifically, researchers at the global cybersecurity company ESET identified several websites that make emotional but false appeals for solidarity with the people of Ukraine or encourage the public to help in the funding of defensive efforts of the country.
These websites make very vague claims about how the «aid» will be used. On closer investigation one can see relatively easily that none of them represent a legitimate organisation.
According to ESET, the sites you should avoid giving your money to include sites such as:
- help-for-ukraine[.]eu
- tokenukraine[.]com
- supportukraine[.]today
- ukrainecharity[.]gives
- ukrainesolidarity[.]org
- ukraine-solidarity[.]com
- saveukraine[.]today
The well-known company cybersecurity also notes that we need to be careful with emotional appeals for help that may arrive in our email. They also circulate in the Twitter and other social media and other similar tricks designed to get victims to donate Bitcoin.
In general, in the era of ongoing cyber attacks against Ukrainian targets, it can be difficult to verify information.
If you want to help through a donation, here are 7 tips from our experts ESET on how to do this safely:
- Check carefully before giving money - it is best to choose well-known organisations that have a presence or partners in Ukraine.
- Donate your money through the charity's website or contact the charity directly for instructions.
- Be wary of requests to transfer money or send gift cards. Usually, charities do not ask for such “donations”.
- Do not click on links and download attachments in emails or social media messages that look strange and especially from unknown sources. They may try to trick you into unintentionally downloading malware onto your device.
- In fact, be wary even of messages from trusted sources unless you verify that the message is authentic. To do this, contact the source in question by a means other than the one by which you received it, e.g. by telephone if you received it by email, etc.
- Be wary of social media posts promoting a charity unless you verify that the organisation is legitimate. The friend recommending it may not have done their research and the number of likes on a social media post doesn't say much about its legitimacy.
- Don't give in to undue pressure - scammers will try to use the urgency of the situation to pressure you into making a donation (social engineering).
