Viral fundraisers in Addis raise money and questions ^{CEFR B1}

A series of short videos on TikTok and other channels used emotion and simple staging to attract viewers. One clip filmed near Bole showed a man named Tamru describe illness and hardship and ended with a hand pressing cash into his palm. The video was first posted on @melektegnaw_ (about 1.7 million followers).

After the clip went viral, donors moved money. More than USD 1,576 passed 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 a masked organiser. The funds were meant to buy a Bajaj so Tamru could work, but he says the promise did not hold and he wired USD 1,212 from deposited funds.

Other channels such as @baladeraw used similar staging and raised about USD 10,958.96 through Chapa, an Ethiopian-licensed payment gateway. Attempts to resolve the case on Eyoha Media did not produce receipts or documentation, and later the person behind @melektegnaw_ appeared on Seifu on EBS and made public claims that were not independently verified.