If a spirit of solidarity suddenly overwhelms you with Christmas that pushes you to donate to charitable causes, now is the time! What we will ask you is that you go carefully to distinguish true campaigns of those that can end with an upset. There are several things that we can look at before giving our data or our money.
If they are campaigns from official channels, better, and if not, let’s be sure who announces it
This is one of the most important points when making a donation online: not only to what cause do you want to donate, if not, who are you giving the money to? “To verify that a campaign is official we need to check three elements: that it is found announced and published in official media, that the information you provide is correct and has a foundation within the objectives it raises and that the technological mechanisms it uses for financial part are adequate, “he explained to Damn tech Paul Aguilar, the organization’s head of digital security SocialTIC.
Fake donation campaigns will look in many cases impersonate a real campaign, “Either taking an ongoing campaign or taking advantage of a moment of social conjuncture from which they can take advantage”, continues Aguilar.
For example, the health emergency caused by COVID-19 at the beginning of the year caused many people to pitch in and make financial donations through the Internet. It is a context that cyber attackers take advantage of to appeal to the “emotional reaction” that causes such a crisis. At Christmas, you can express that feeling of solidarity too.
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Aguilar emphasizes that if a web page asks you to pay with a method other than a credit card or one certified payment platform like PayPal, we can be sure that it is not going to be a trustworthy site. That is, if the World Health Organization (WHO) were to mount a donation campaign, it would not do so by asking for bitcoins.
On this subject, the expert in cybersecurity of the Citizens and Minors area of the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE) Angela Garcia, warned us that a campaign launched by a influence and not by an official institution it doesn’t have to be dangerous, but warns that they themselves “put their image to ask for donations and have to make sure what is behind is legal.”
It is not a question, therefore, of distrusting any donation campaign that does not come from an official page or institution, but of being cautious with what is advertised and consider one important thing: Will the person announcing it take over manage the money back if there is a problem with the transaction?
“The legitimacy of these campaigns depends on the legitimacy or trust of the people who are running it and that unlike an official institution they have no responsibility to be held accountable in case something goes wrong “, explains Aguilar on the subject of influencers.
Read the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policies of the donation platforms
A process that involves the transfer of money and personal data is a time bomb, that is why we insist on the importance of being cautious with the portals in which we introduce our personal data such as full name, address, ID, email, etc.
Ángela García, from INCIBE, emphasizes that “if we make donations through third-party pages, we must read the terms of use and the privacy policies, because if we are giving our data we have to know how they are going to be used and for what purposes“. Those long documents about our data …? Yes, essential. our greatest safeguard when entering personal data on Internet portals.
“Has to get reflected how is going to act “in these terms and conditions regarding our personal data, Garcia affects.” The user is in turn the weakest link: we can have the secure systems, password and everything fine, and in the end with a social engineering attack that a person may have in a situation they deceive us and we have already agreed to give our data “.
García also appeals to common sense: “If something seems too good to be true … If something is free, the business is us, and in the end this data may end up in resale” due to an oversight.
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What can you do if you are the victim of a fake donation campaign?
Aguilar gives us some clues as to whether the money from a fake donation campaign could be recovered: it depends on the platform involved, the type of scam and the tools that our bank makes available.
“It may happen that the money has come out directly from your hand (you authorized the transaction) or that what they have obtained is your personal and financial data that can then be used to withdraw money from the account. The first case leads us to contact our financial institution, which depending on its tools can help us, “for example, with some type of insurance, he explains.
“In the second case, what is necessary would be to notify your financial institution so that it is aware of unusual movements, and update your data such as users and password of online banking. “Also in the event that we notice unusual movements with the card, proceed to block it.
In the end, the process to make sure that we are contributing to a good deed with our donation and not being deceived is a lot like what we tell you to continue to identify bulos and false content when we receive certain messages. The main thing? When in doubt, do not share, which translated into this specific case means nor give your personal data or your money without checking before. Here we leave a series of tips:
- Who asks for the money? Make sure that the organization or institution that requests it is official.
- That they ask for? Are the campaign objectives clear and concise with a real and reliable recipient?
- Always pay with credit cards or accredited payment platforms, no transfers or gift cards.
- Do a little searching on the internet … Is there someone else promoting the campaign? Has anyone reported it? Maybe add the word “scam” or “scam” next to it.
- And ask! Where does the money go? Does the organization or platform that organizes it stay something?
- You can call 017, INCIBE’s free cybersecurity number for citizens and companies.
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First publication date of this article: 12/17/2020.
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