When tragedy hits, like the Boston Marathon bombing, you can bet that scammers aren’t far behind. The three components of an ethical lapse are Need, Opportunity and Rationalization. Tragedy…well that creates the OPPORTUNITY – and where there is opportunity there will be those who feel compelled to take advantage of what is put before them.
Are they good people? NO! But that is not the debate here…what is at stake is awareness and vigilance. Here’s the report from MSN Now.
Twitter can be an amazing tool in the wake of a tragedy. However, it can also be used by amazing tools, like the guy who created a fake Boston Marathon twitter promising to donate $1 for Boston Marathon victims for every retweet. Astute Twitterers noticed that the account was brand new, wasn’t verified and had a suspicious dearth of followers. They quickly started calling it out for callously exploiting a tragedy, and the account (with its creator still unknown) has since been suspended. Thank you, Twitter, for consistently providing a platform for the best and worst of humanity, and good on you, Twitterverse, for calling this guy out.
Be careful and know that what you are giving is going to those who are really in need. Whether it is this tragedy today in Boston, or hurricanes Sandy or Katrina…just be aware that someone is motivated by taking advantage of a bad situation and their goal is to make it worse. Your pain is their gain.
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