I believe sourcing funds online is a good initiative, it has been a way of helping people financially, helping many people sort out medical bills and seek help. It supports charitable causes and affects the lives of many people significantly and that's why I support crowdfunding, but considering how people use crowdfunding to scam from others is a thing of concern, especially online fundraising , I find it terrible. People now use it as an opportunity to fraud kind donors whose intention is just to help others meet their needs.
They take advantage of online fundraising, that's because of how online fundraising reaches out to a wider audience and that's bad because it also affects those who are genuinely seeking help.
Genuine people struggling to pay their medical bills, money to finance their education, or recover from an unexpected situation can receive assistance from people they have never met before, just because of online crowdfunding, it has really created opportunities for millions of people. It's just so sad that dishonest people see it as an opportunity to rob and exploit others, thereby ruining things for those who are truly in need.
So, how do we tell the difference between a genuine fundraising campaign and a fraudulent one? It's so unfortunate that it is really difficult to tell the difference, because people can manipulate pictures and even videos just to achieve their aim of defrauding others, they use these videos to manipulate and gain sympathy to attract donations and, most times, they even use the circumstances of another person to gain money for themselves, and this has really made it difficult for those who genuinely want to help, the donors no longer know who to trust and can no longer trust when they fall victim of online scammers, through crowdfunding.
Confirming the legitimacy of a case would really help online donors and prevent more fraud issues, proper verification and examination before donating. Ask for supporting documents, medical health reports, and other documents, asking isn't enough, you should also go as far as reaching the sources of that information. A convincing research should be done before donating funds.
There should also be transparency, people donating deserve to know where their money is going to, how it's being spent and carried along to know how the money is being spent and every process. They deserve to be given updates and the process of how the money is being spent. For crowdfunding that involves specific expenses, like hospital bills and other bills, the payments to verified institutions could help reduce the risk of funds raised by donors from being misused.
I also believe that those who donate have the responsibility to exercise caution, before contributing to any fundraising, they should examine the information given to them online, they should check for updates, and look for confirmation too, although it's difficult to eliminate fraud, but they should be careful, verifiying can prevent fraud from happening to anyone, and taking precautions can reduce the risk of being deceived by those who intend stealing through crowdfunding.
In conclusion, I believe online fundraising is valuable and should continue, but trust must be supported by accountability and transparency. These platforms used for online fundraising should not only provide space for people to request donations, they should also actively work to protect the people donating and the beneficiaries.