SLATE: The Australian Wildfires Bring Out the Scammers

The Australian wildfires were met with an outpour of support from across the world. There were legitimate fundraising efforts such as one by Australian comedian, Celeste Barber, who raised over 34 million dollars on Facebook to support firefighters. There were also scammers who found the disaster as an opportunity to exploit peoples’ benevolence. Fake Instagram accounts attempted to gain clout and increase the profitability of their account by posting pledges to donate a dollar per “like”. Some set up fake donation campaigns while others used clips of the natural disaster to promote their own online merchandise. Read the full article here.