HIBAPRESS – Casablanca
Several Moroccan cities have recently witnessed the spread of suspicious practices by con artists, both male and female, who exploit citizens' sympathy for the residents of Gaza to collect financial donations under the pretext of sending them to them.
These operations are not limited to what is happening on social media, but also take place through direct calls near mosques, and through intermediaries who roam popular neighborhoods to persuade people to contribute, with misleading promises that the money will reach Gaza through associations or non-governmental organizations. This phenomenon has aroused widespread resentment among the public, especially as such practices deeply affect the values of solidarity and charity that characterize Moroccans, and open the door to fraudsters who try to turn citizens' sympathy into a source of personal profit. A number of followers have called on the authorities to intervene firmly to stop this bleeding, considering that exploiting the suffering of the Palestinians for suspicious purposes harms the image of charitable work and undermines citizens' confidence in real humanitarian initiatives. It is important to remember that collecting donations or organizing public charity work in Morocco is subject to a clear and specific legal framework, where there are controls that regulate the process and do not allow anyone to collect money or request assistance outside legal procedures. These controls aim to protect donors and ensure that support reaches its beneficiaries through official and transparent channels, therefore, it is the duty of citizens to deal cautiously with such suspicious calls and not to be carried away by them, in order to preserve the credibility of solidarity and ensure that aid reaches those who really need it. The continuation of these practices without sufficient deterrence threatens confidence in charitable work and makes many hesitant to offer assistance, which contradicts the spirit of solidarity that distinguishes Moroccans, therefore, the firm intervention of the authorities, strengthening monitoring and enforcing the law remains an urgent necessity to protect public charity from any cheap exploitation, and to preserve the values of solidarity that reflect the true face of Moroccan society.
