Investigation: How social media vultures feed on misery of sick children
India TodayWhen five-year-old Raghad developed swelling around her eyes, her mother assumed it was an ordinary infection. We could see her fading away.” Thousands of miles away in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, a man called Atul Singh scours the internet for photos like Raghad’s. India Today Fact Check’s investigation uncovered Atul’s direct connection to the Instagram account “@shree_ram_faimly”, which has 1.4 million followers, that regularly solicits donations using photos and videos of sick children, even dead ones. For example, the Instagram account “@hyc_help_foundation” shared a video of an injured child on a hospital stretcher, soliciting donations without disclosing the child’s identity or location. Fraudsters behind the Instagram account “@hyc_help_foundation” cloned the NGO’s content and replaced the donation QR codes with their own.
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