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660 Thousand Kazakhstanis Duped in Fake Charity Scams

Kazakhstan
138 bank cards are involved in dubious money collection (crowdfunding) for various purposes, and over 660 thousand Kazakhstanis sent their money for pseudo-help.

This became known during the regular meeting of the Interdepartmental Council on preventing the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, held at the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the chairmanship of Dmitriy Malakhov.

It is noted that the collected money amounted to 6 billion tenge, of which 33% (2 billion) have signs of fraud.

Potential threats of collective fundraising on social networks and their further misuse have been identified.

The head of the FMA D. Malakhov noted that cases are being identified when unscrupulous citizens freely and uncontrollably collect funds under the guise of charitable activities and assistance for “treatment” and “help for the poor.”

The attackers spend money on the purchase of movable and immovable property, household expenses, bets at bookmakers and renting expensive apartments abroad.

It is possible that the good intentions of good-natured citizens have become easy money for the “pseudo” needy.

The meeting participants - representatives of the AIFC, financial regulators and second-tier banks – pointed at the need to develop legislative measures to regulate crowdfunding activities.

For reference: crowdfunding is an innovative way of raising money, used to finance projects, initiatives and start-ups.

Source: FMA