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Social Media : For Charity or Trickery

Have you ever seen an advertisement about an open platform that allow you to donate for charity or those who are in need? Feeling sorry that could lead you to donate is one of the goals of the person or people behind this action. This kind of platform will make it easier for those who really need fund in immidiate time. This kind of platform would also let people to do good deeds easier and effectively. Ofcourse, in life there will always be two sides, black and white, good and bad. It might be does not sound right that there is a bad side in doing charity, but the fact is there is one or two bad sides on doing charity through social media. The fundraiser platform on social media could be used for charity and trickery. This often lead some people to hesitate on having to donate or not. (Adzra)


A crucial fundraising event happened recently at 14 April 2019,where C.A.N Borneo encourages people to help fund their campaigns in Borneo for stopping deforestation, rescuing animals and plants, and also restore the forest by Agroforestry. This fundraising was done in donation platform website kitabisa.com where viewers donate money to support the campaigns. Borneo forest is threatened by illegal man-made deforestation to establish farmlands, which reduces oxygen and Orangutan’s habitat. This matter has become rampant that forest in Borneo is losing millions of hectares and half of Orangutan population is losing their habitat of rainforest. Although Borneo forest is important both in its role as world’s lungs and as home to unique species that resides in the forest called Orangutan, the Government has not really done anything to prevent it from worsening. So this donation platform really helps concerned viewers to help fund people to prevent this horrible event from worsening. (Joseph)


A lot of good deeds can happen in these fundraising platform, and it is considered a commendable thing. Thus, why public figure really encouraged people to donate and kept promoting the website through their own social media. On the contrary, these fundraising platform might lead you to scam. There are no guarantee that the money you donate for whatever purposes—healthcare, medical treatment, scholarship will be use for what’s stated in the their website. Like Cak Budi’s case for instance, he raised funds to help the underprivileged and people in need through the website KitaBisa.com. According to tirto.id he managed to receive up to Rp 1.066.265.646 per 2nd of May 2017. With that much money, it was later revealed that instead of using the money to help the underprivileged like what he initially stated, instead he bought an iPhone 7 and Toyota Fortuner. And that is only 1 case out of a few others. People must beware and do researches first before giving out their money online. (Natasya)


While you probably have a list of charities that you love and trust, there's quite a bit of charity fraud out there. Many fake non-profits push hard this time of year to get donations and don't spend money on the cause they are advertising. Here are some tips on how to avoid the charity fraud. First, you have to be wary of emotional appeals. You need to be cautious because they will pull every emotional lever possible. Second, please watch out for name similarities. When charities seek support for the same cause, their names are often similar. Before you give, be sure you have the exact name of the charity to avoid a case of mistaken identitiy. Third, avoid on the spot donation decisions from unfamiliar organizations. Don’t succumb to pressure to make an immediate giving decision. Avoid any telemarketing or direct mail pitches. Any high-pressure tactic should be avoided. The easiest thing to keep scammer’s tricks in mind are some scammers try to trick you into paying them by thanking you for a donation that you never made. Also some scammers use names that sound a lot like the names of real charities. This is one reason it pays to do some research before giving. (Harumi)


Social media can be used as a platform for a lot of things, and one of those things is fundraising. There are many public fundraising websites that are being promoted or shared by through social media applications such as twitter, instagram, etc. Unfortunately, we live in an world where the charity is often misused for trickery. Although initially, its intention is for the society to give help to other people, it does not eliminate the chance for some people to misuse it for their own good, rather than helping out those who are really in need. But, it does not mean that all the digital charity are scams, we can still help out other people as much we want or we can, its just that we have to be careful of whom and what are we going to give our money to. Do your research thoroughly before donating, make sure you know what good cause you are contributing to.(Sabrina)



Cak Budi the alleged scammer

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