Viral fundraisers in Addis raise money and questions ^{CEFR B2}

Short, emotional videos on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube have been used to raise money in Addis Ababa and beyond. One viral clip filmed near Bole featured a man named Tamru; it was first posted on @melektegnaw_ (about 1.7 million followers) and ended with someone pressing cash into his palm. Channels such as @melektegnaw_ and @baladeraw employ similar staging: hoods up, the camera behind the "giver," and slogans on clothing like "the trustee" (ባለአደራው) and "the messenger" (መልክተኛው).

After the viral clip, more than USD 1,576 moved through a bank account in Tamru’s name, and an estimated USD 2,120 to 2,425 went to accounts he says were tied to associates of the masked organiser. The money was meant to buy a Bajaj so Tamru could work, but Tamru says he was later asked for more money for items described as "tax clearance," "transport fees," "processing," and "frozen account" penalties. He estimates he wired USD 1,212 from funds deposited into his account and then gave a nearly three-hour interview on Eyoha Media seeking answers. Attempts to resolve the case did not produce receipts or clear documentation.

Separately, @baladeraw reports raising more than USD 10,958.96 through Chapa, an Ethiopian-licensed payment gateway regulated by the National Bank of Ethiopia. TikTok’s rules require fundraisers to be verified organisations with registration, a website and at least 1,000 followers, but these creators solicited donations as private users outside TikTok’s verified fundraising tools. Observers note a wider problem: AFP’s Ethiopia fact-check desk exposed an April 2023 Oromo Facebook post promising "free travel to America" that the US Embassy confirmed was a scam, and Reuters review of internal Meta documents showed about 10 percent of 2024 revenue was projected to come from ads tied to scams or banned goods, with an estimate that users see 15 billion scam ads a day; UK authorities said 54 percent of 2023 payment scams involved Meta platforms.