ok i don’t really like doing this but i’ve gotten two dms now in two days so:
we’ve gotten a couple dms now, all saying “hi” or “hello”, from new accounts that have links to a fundraiser for lgbtq people in the kakuma refugee camp. this camp is real, and i have no doubt that there are people there who need help, but we have serious doubts that these specific fundraisers will ever result in aid for the people there.

this cropped up on reddit last year, and mods from a couple large queer subreddits spoke up about it likely being a scam:

https://old.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/101nf0p/some_thoughts_on_the_folks_in_the_kakuma_refugee/
https://old.reddit.com/r/lgbt/comments/wacwlw/regarding_kakuma_camp/

the account that DMed us a couple days is gone now (whether it was suspended or deleted, we don’t know), but the profile is still cached on our instance, and it links to the same fundraiser, organised by someone in… rome? which is all pretty suspicious and lines up with the behaviour of these accounts on reddit as well

to be clear: yes, mutual aid in general is a good thing! but this specific situation reeks of being a scam, from the fresh accounts to history on other websites.

please, be careful with fundraisers that are posted by people who aren’t established, real users 

 @sam にゃん :kittysit: :verified_woem: :bunhdlur... 

Thank you.
I just blocked & reported.