Mayotte: how prize pool sites check if calls for donations are honest

Calls for donations are increasing to help the population of Mayotte following the passage of Cyclone Chido. There are those launched by official associations: Red Cross, Secours populaire, Médecins du monde… But there are also numerous initiatives on platforms specializing in collecting money.

With all the difficulty that this poses with regard to fraud: how can we ensure that the funds collected will go to support the victims? At the end of December, the Ministry of the Interior issued an alert: “Beware of fake jackpots and donation collections. »

“If the project is too vague, we block it”

“There are always, in these cases, fraudsters who seek to take advantage of the generosity of others,” confirms Amandine Plas, marketing director of Leetchi. In addition to private prize pools, reserved for festive events between loved ones (parting party, wedding, birth, etc.), the sector leader is experiencing strong growth in its “solidarity” activities, with calls for donations from the general public.

As of January 6, 663 prize pools were credited to Mayotte, for an amount of 775,000 euros. Leetchi assures that it has “implemented rigorous processes” to verify the veracity of projects, including “supporting documents requested upstream and at the time of payment”, illustrates the marketing director.

On Papayoux, around twenty pots are open for the ravaged island. “We ask the organizer to validate their identity. It must precisely describe the intended use of the funds. If the project is too vague, or as soon as we have a doubt, we block it,” says Sébastien, the founder.

Christophe Dolique, the president of Lyf, agrees: “Users tried to create a project for Mayotte, we closed them and redirected them to organizations like the Fondation de France, better able to process these collections. »