Palestinians look at the destruction of a house in the aftermath of a strike amid the conflict with Israel in Khan Younis. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Scammers are using the Israel-Hamas conflict and the death of civilians in Palestine and Gaza to list dubious cryptocurrency wallet addresses and lure unsuspecting victims into sending them funds.

Researchers have spotted over 500 “fundraising” emails sent from entities claiming to be charities. Several posts on X, formerly Twitter, Telegram and Instagram were found to list dubious cryptocurrency wallets, a report from the Bleeping Computer said.

Similar crypto donation scams were also reported during the Ruso-Ukrainian war and earthquakes in Turkey. Posts on social networking platforms share emotive messages along with gory pictures of wounded soldiers, women and children to lure unsuspecting users into donating to their scam wallets.

An example of such an account was a “Gaza Relief Aid “account on X, which uses the aidgaza.xyz domain and maintains a presence on Telegram and Instagram. The domain presented by the account is not endorsed by any established charitable organisation contrary to its claim of being “An Islamic Relief Initiative,” the report said.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)

Operators behind the account have listed their Ethereum, Bitcoin, and USDT addresses on its website and social media accounts.

Similar scams are claiming to be support Israel are also making rounds. “Donate for Israel” was one such account on X that raised doubts around its authenticity.

Researchers at Kaspersky, a cybersecurity firm, also reported more than 500 scam emails, along with fraudulent websites designed to capitalise on people’s willingness to aid those impacted.

Websites reported by Kaspersky were found to support easy money transfer options and accept a wide range of crypto including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and Litecoin.

To avoid donating to a scam, users are advised to carefully scrutinize pages before donating as fake websites lack essential information and specifics of the charity’s workers and documentation. Users should donate using only official and through recognized charities to avoid falling victim to scams.