As you scroll through your FYP, a sweet elderly man or woman appears, asking for a moment of your attention to help save their struggling animal shelter.
Please stay 8 seconds so I dont have to shut down my cat shelter I poured my love into, the text on screen reads. You stay and watch. After all, its only eight seconds. Maybe you even buy the slippers theyre selling to raise additional funds.
Its a scam.
The man in the video is real, but he doesnt run an animal shelter. He owns a menswear and tailoring shop in Canton, Ohio.
One night I was scrolling on TikTok watching videos and I see my dads face pop up, saying Stay for a few seconds and help my husband or grandpas cat shelter, And Im like, What? Daisy Yelicheck told WMBF News. Then Im getting text messages from family members across the country, saying, Do you know your dads being used in these videos?
Daisys father, George Tsaftarides, 84, does post on TikTok, where he teaches his 41,000 followers how to sew. Now, bad actors have taken his content, edited it, and used it for their own gain.
@georgethemastertailor
Tsaftarides isnt the only target. Charles Ray, an 85-year-old retiree in Michigan, has also had videos from his TikTok account repurposed without his permission. In one instance, scammers used a clip of him rubbing his eye, making it look as if he was crying, he told The Guardian.
TikTok, in a statement to the Guardian, said its community guidelines prohibit impersonation accounts and content that violates intellectual property rights. Still, both Tsaftarides and Ray have had difficulty getting the stolen videos removed, even after reporting them.
Beyond stolen content, the Better Business Bureau has received reports of AI-generated scams designed to solicit fake donations. According to an FBI report, American consumers lost $12.5 billion to cybercrime last year, a 25% increase from the year before.
Now, some TikTok users are stepping in to raise awareness, warning others not to fall for every cat shelter or cow farm asking for donations. The sob story, after all, is one of the oldest tricks in the book.
@sesagraham wtf is going on and shame on you @MilkStep @KittyBags @LINK IN BIO TO SUPPORT #scammer #fakepages #help #scam #scammers original sound – Sesa
