On a throwaway for privacy reasons. Bit of a long read, sorry.
About a year and a half ago, I fell for what I'm pretty sure were some of those Gaza donation scams. It started with a post on Tumblr with a PayPal link for what was supposedly a displaced Palestinian's insulin fund. After donating to that, I got an additional email from another person claiming to be in the same refugee camp, and I gave them a small amount too. About $150 total. Until I started getting more email requests. After I politely told them I couldn't spare anything at the time, they stopped contacting me.
Looking back it seems so obvious, and I feel like an idiot for falling for this stuff. Why didn't I think to cross-reference names and check the location of the supposed refugee camp? Or check that PayPal is even working in Palestine? Aren't I supposed to be an educated person? But this was when Gaza was all over Tumblr, and part of my brain was going, “Well, with how repressed the citizens are, I guess it makes sense they'd turn to desperate measures like this.” Also, I have moral scrupulosity OCD, which is also why getting scammed has me so bothered almost two years later. My conscience wouldn't let me turn away. A third thing I want to mention is that I'm from the Midwest, where we're stereotyped as a little too trusting and neighborly for our own good.
I could probably contest the transactions with PayPal, but I don't want to. Not only am I most likely past that window of opportunity, I don't want to risk angering a potentially vindictive scammer by doing so. It's not about the money.
It's about the feelings the situation has given me. The aforementioned shame at falling for a blatant scam, but also the anxiety of what really happened. Where did my money go? I hope what happened is that some fellow in SE Asia got a laugh at this gullible American's expense, treated themselves to some headphones or shoes, and went on their merry way. I hope that my money didn't, as some people claim, go to support human trafficking or terrorist violence. The idea that it could have makes me feel sick to my stomach. The night I wrote this post, it had me so anxious I lost my appetite. Like the FBI could come smashing through my window any moment to arrest me for connections to terrorism. Even though what really happened was that someone took advantage of my compassion.
To be honest, I don't really know what to do. My goal with this post was mostly to reach out and stop holding my feelings inside. Thank you for reading. I hope you have a good night, and thank you all for your work that you do to raise awareness about scams and help victims.