Have Donation Campaigns for the Displaced Become Prey for Scammers?

Issued by the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces — Public Relations Division, the following statement:

"Within the framework of the ongoing efforts undertaken by the Internal Security Forces to combat various types of crimes in all Lebanese regions, especially cybercrimes and electronic fraud, a woman filed a complaint on 10-04-2026 before the Barouk post in the Regional Gendarmerie Unit against a person named: (A. T.) of unknown remaining identity, for the crime of fraud and deception via a money transfer application. Based on the指示 of the competent judiciary, the investigation was referred on 22-04-2026 to the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Protection Bureau in the Judicial Police Unit.

Upon hearing the plaintiff's testimony at the bureau's center, she stated that since the beginning of the recent war, she had been active with a number of friends working in the relief and social field, organizing campaigns to collect donations for the displaced and affected, with the aim of securing medicines, food items, baby milk, and diapers. She added that she published her phone number via groups on the "WhatsApp" application to receive money transfers through a money transfer company, where she indeed began receiving sums of money from a number of donors.

She also reported that on 09-04-2026, she received a phone call from a person who introduced himself as (A. T.), claiming that he was assigned by the money transfer company she deals with, and deluded her into believing that her account had exceeded the allowed limit, and that there were pending money transfers as a result, offering to help her resolve the problem.

Since she was expecting a money transfer from one of her relatives residing abroad, she believed his words and began executing his requests. To confirm that her account was still valid, she transferred a sum of money to her son's account, and after the operation succeeded, he asked her to send the verification code that reached her via the electronic application of the transfer company. Then he deluded her into believing that an amount of /5,000/ US dollars had been withdrawn from the account due to the existing problem, and later asked her for another verification code that reached her son's phone, under the pretext of fixing the glitch and reorganizing the account.

After sending the second code, she was surprised to find the money disappearing from the account. When she confronted him, he explicitly told her that he was the one who had seized the amount, claiming that she would get it back later along with the pending money transfer. At that point, she realized she had fallen victim to a fraud and scam operation.

Through technical and technological investigations and inquiries, the bureau's elements were able to trace the path of the funds that left the plaintiff's account, where it was found that they had been transferred to an account belonging to a digital trading company. After contacting the concerned company, it was asked to freeze the amount. As a result of the follow-up, the company's agent came to the bureau's center on 28-04-2026 and handed over the full sum of money to the elements.

The full amount has been handed over to the plaintiff, while work continues, based on the指示 of the competent judiciary, to identify the identities of those involved and arrest them.

Warning:

The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces requests citizens and residents alike to be cautious of various fraud methods, and not to send any official documents, financial data, verification codes, or images thereof to any suspicious or untrusted entity, to avoid falling victim to scammers".