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Original poster

Urgent;I've had a phishing email re my donation to gofundme

203 replies

mimivanne · 19/01/2018 17:34

Just checking my emails.1.19 pm, email from 'Nate' at the GofundMe trust and safety team requesting a copy of my government issued photo ID ,evidence of my connection to the campaign such as links to social media.
Failure to respond within 48hrs will result in the refund of my donation.
Checked GofundMe t @ c's ,states they will never request personal details.
Very worrying

OP posts:
SciFiFan2015 · 19/01/2018 18:18

I got the same email and have ignored it.

PocketCoffeeEspresso · 19/01/2018 18:19

Hmm - gofundme.zendesk.com forwards to support.gofundme.com - so seriously they've done a good job setting this up if it's fake - better than most I've seen

AdalindSchade · 19/01/2018 18:20

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3138362-AIBU-GoFundMe-addiction?msgid=74943466 Read the latest posts

HairyBallTheorem · 19/01/2018 18:25

Pocket, I'll repeat what I said on the other thread - the whole point is that these emails are going to people who used pseudonyms on the donations page. From the mere fact that they are pseudonyms that means people doing a phishing attack (if that's what it is) cannot have used the "guess [email protected]"

To send out these emails, the sender has to know three things - the name on your bank card, the name you put on the donation page (in order to be able to say the two don't match) and your email. Two out of three of these should be confidential and stored securely by Gofundme.

If the emails aren't genuine, but are phishing emails, then that means either Gofundme has been hacked (as happened with Mumsnet a few years back, or TalkTalk more recently) or they have a sys-admins person deliberately leaking details to a third party.

Original poster
mimivanne · 19/01/2018 18:27

Pocket;
Absolutely not, some online companies query my email add, as they often haven't heard of it.

OP posts:
PocketCoffeeEspresso · 19/01/2018 18:28

Ahh, well, in the light of that, it's going to be genuine.

Even if poorly done (emailing identity documents not being fantastic security!)

GuardianLions · 19/01/2018 18:37

Wow. They really want to doxx people on social media and harass them don't they?

It is very creepy how these TRA/MRAs operate isn't it?

Is there any site where this kind of activity is being collated to help give us a who's who of TRA/MRA?

It would be really helpful to get a map of their connections to eachother and to key organisations they work for/hide behind.

jeaux90 · 19/01/2018 18:41

I just posted on the other thread but I didn't get that email as I donated using my name. Can anyone forward the email asking for data to JJ or DM and I'll do it.

HairyBallTheorem · 19/01/2018 18:41

Thread on Jennifer James' twitter feed re. the returned donations.

No suggestion of wrong doing, but a clear suggestion that GoFundMe may have arbitrarily and unilaterally changed their T&C part way through the fundraiser.

NotTerfNorCis · 19/01/2018 18:46

It's weird because gofundme.zendesk.com does seem to be legit. If you Google it, the top link comes up as the GoFundMe site and if you click on it it takes you to GoFundMe.

But I can't believe they would ask you for a photo ID. No way. Best report it as abuse.

Also, email addresses can be faked.

jeaux90 · 19/01/2018 18:53

It's the asking for the personal data that's worrying yes. Anyone who has that email please get it to JJ or DM me and I'll do it.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 19/01/2018 18:56

I don't necessarily find them asking for photo id odd (covering their asses if they are sued for comments on their site) but asking for proof of social media involvement in the campaign? Hmm

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 19/01/2018 18:59

Can you check the full email header?

DrinkFeckArseGirls · 19/01/2018 19:04

It sounds like a legit email - like people upthread said zendesk is used by other companies too. The fact thatbit is genuine is more worrying than if they were phishing emails.

HemlockSpartacus · 19/01/2018 19:13

Email [email protected] and get them to confirm whether it's legit.

HemlockSpartacus · 19/01/2018 19:15

If it's not legit then ask them to investigate how your email address was obtained and report a DPA breach to the ICO - ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-breach/

mooncuplanding · 19/01/2018 19:16

And either way, don't give them your details

If GoFundMe have done it, they are going to get some really bad PR (eventually) having being bullied into it by a group of TAs

AngryAttackKittens · 19/01/2018 19:17

"Government issued photo ID" is a more often used in the US, so if GoFundMe has a team in the UK that would be looking into the campaign as a result of various trolly complaints about it I really doubt that message came from them.

GuardianLions · 19/01/2018 19:19

Gofundme have absolutely NO business asking people for photo ID or social media links. If one of their staff is behind this they need disciplining.

AngryAttackKittens · 19/01/2018 19:23

Seeing later comments, they definitely shouldn't be asking for photo ID in order to do a refund. I'd complain about that to GoFundMe and also to ZenDesk, since ZenDesk are a better company overall and it's in their interest to avoid clients allowing customers to share information that isn't safe to transmit via email on their platform. They have an app that allows retraction of credit card details shared by customers for exactly that reason.

PocketCoffeeEspresso · 19/01/2018 19:27

You don't need photo I'd to open a bank account even, so that's an unusual request. And social media is ridiculous.

I don't think it's phishing, but they're sure acting like they are, and very irresponsibly (in fact, there's going to be regs around this stuff that they must be breaching)

AngryAttackKittens · 19/01/2018 19:29

The fact that they're asking for proof of social media involvement in the campaign makes me suspect that there's a TRA working for GoFundMe who's attempting to gather the info needed to "out" you as a "transphobe" on social media. Don't give it to them. Reporting to abuse@ is a good idea, if I got an email like that about a company I worked for I'd be going straight to HR with it.

HemlockSpartacus · 19/01/2018 19:31

If a company suspects someone isn't who they are claiming to be then they are likely to ask for ID, and are able to refuse custom if ID is not provided. This isn't unreasonable.

It is also reasonable to ask for these details over email, many companies do this all the time. Card details are a different matter, hence the programs they use for taking this information.

I can't see why they'd need social media links, that makes no sense to me.

I think they are being unreasonable to refuse new donations, as people couldn't have known that their donations would be refused.

If this isn't a phishing scam (which IMO it doesn't sound like it is) then this is what they will need to be challenged on.

IrkThePurist · 19/01/2018 19:33

Report online phishing emails to Action Fraud;

www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails

AngryAttackKittens · 19/01/2018 19:33

One thought - lots of TRAs work in IT, and generally someone in IT will have access to a company's ZenDesk account. So hard to tell if this is a decision GoFundMe have made on a corporate level, rogue CS agent, or someone in IT who has access to the CS account. In any case, they're asking for info that's not needed to complete a refund and I'd strongly advise against responding to them directly.