Donors need protection too as wildfire misinformation and scams emerge

As fires burn in Los Angeles, many people are going online to find ways to support people who have been temporarily or permanently displaced by the disaster.
But as we’ve seen in the aftermath of recent hurricanes and floods, bad actors are spreading misinformation and financial scams. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke with Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at the cybersecurity firm McAfee, to learn more.
The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Steve Grobman: We’re seeing cybercriminals and scammers take advantage of the situation in a whole host of ways, from fake GoFundMe sites to fake sites that are trying to extort fraudulent campaign donations. A lot of this is really being fueled by the ease of communicating with mass populations through social media, and some of the relaxation of content moderation and the use of things like generative [artificial intelligence] to really inflame some of the feelings behind the event and push it really towards the cybercriminals being able to make money off of it.
Kimberly Adams: Can you give us a couple of examples? What kinds of misinformation about the LA wildfires, for example, have you noticed so far?
Grobman: So a lot of what we’ve seen is, No. 1, celebrities endorsing charities that don’t actually exist. So we’ve seen the likes of Emma Watson and Kim Kardashian having fake accounts set up, representing them, talking about contributions in order to provide relief for the victims of this event. And in both cases, those were just completely fake. We’ve also seen the use of generative AI to misrepresent what’s actually happening. Some of the most viral pictures that we’ve seen, in this case, are things like the Hollywood sign being engulfed in flames. And McAfee was actually able to take some of these images and use our latest deepfake detection technology to analyze whether they were generated with generative AI, and in those cases, they absolutely were. We see cases where they’re using cryptocurrency as a means to collect donations for the event, and it’s really important that consumers recognize that if they want to help with this relief effort, No. 1, always go to a validated organization, but also always use a form of payment that has protection, so things like a credit card, where if it does turn out to be fraudulent, they have a way to put a stop payment. Things like wiring money or cryptocurrency are essentially impossible to get the funds back if it turns out to be fraudulent.
Adams: Are you seeing most of this misinformation, the deepfakes, being used just to extort money out of people or to push particular narratives and stories about the fires?
Grobman: It’s both. We see it being used to inflame what was done by government agencies, or in some cases, there’s a religious undertone that the events are related to the politics or the social leanings of that particular part of the country, and unfortunately, we see all of the misinformationists behind this using every tool available to them. So just like we saw during the tragic hurricanes at the end of 2024, where there were a lot of fake images that were really pulling on the heart strings of individuals, showing, you know, a young child in a boat in the flood holding a puppy and claiming that, you know, FEMA wasn’t doing everything they should, we’re seeing very similar things here, where there’s indications that the firefighters are not doing everything needed, or that they’re focused on things other than what are really the most critical aspects of addressing this event.
Adams: So let’s talk a little bit more about these online scams. What sorts of scams have you seen since these fires broke out?
Grobman: There’s a wide variety of them using standard social media, where they’ll create an account, create very high-impact posts like the Hollywood sign being on fire, and they’ll put cryptocurrency wallet addresses stating to contribute to the recovery efforts. There’s other cases where it’s much more targeted. So for example, we’ve seen some celebrity fake accounts post that if people want to help, to engage with them over direct or private messaging. We’ve even seen almost more opportunists than cybercriminals taking advantage by doing things like amplifying the news cycle and setting up fake news aggregation sites. Simply visiting a webpage can allow somebody to mine cryptocurrency in the background, essentially using your computer as the compute resource to do that.
Adams: And what should people keep in mind, especially when it comes to them choosing where they want to donate, to keep themselves safe online?
Grobman: So a few points. Consumers should use reputable charities in order to donate, whenever possible. It’s also really important that consumers use a form of payment that has inherent protections like credit cards. When they’re looking at information related to the fires, fact-checking things with reputable news organizations, and not only looking at things on social media. One of the things that we’ve seen is just because a social media post has an extraordinary level of views or interaction doesn’t mean that it’s real. Some of these posts that showed the Hollywood Hills burning with the Hollywood sign on fire had over a million views with lots of engagement, but were completely fictitious. So before they repost or re-forward, ensure that they’re validating that what they’re seeing has been validated by a credible news organization.
There are plenty of legitimate online resources to help victims of the L.A. wildfires, from FEMA to local, on-the-ground relief and recovery efforts.
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