Same IBAN for Donations for Turkey and Ukraine Does Not Mean Manipulations with Money
The post we are fact-checking is manupulative and lacks context. The fact that the same IBAN number -International Bank Account Number – is used to raise donations for the victims in Turkey and for helping Ukraine does not mean that the funds are manipulated. Money for the victims in Turkey and Syria can be donated on the same international bank account specifying the “purpose of remittance” as a donation for the earthquake in Turkey and Syria or as monetary assistance for the people in Ukraine. Whatever the purpose, it should be specified in “purpose of the remittance”
The post we are fact-checking is manupulative and lacks context. The fact that the same IBAN number -International Bank Account Number – is used to raise donations for the victims in Turkey and for helping Ukraine does not mean that the funds are manipulated. Money for the victims in Turkey and Syria can be donated on the same international bank account specifying the “purpose of remittance” as a donation for the earthquake in Turkey and Syria or as monetary assistance for the people in Ukraine. Whatever the purpose, it should be specified in “purpose of the remittance”
The social networks show a shared post claiming that funds are being deposited on the same IBAN number for both Turkey and Ukraine. This is a manipulation and it lacks context because the same IBAN number can be used for more purposes which does not imply mismanagement of the funds.
ATTENTION: THE IBAN ACCOUNT NUMBER FOR HELPING TURKEY IS THE SAME AS THE IBAN NUMBER FOR UKRAINE
After the devastating earthquake that occurred last week, strongly affecting neighbouring Syria, taking the lives of thousands of people, and leaving even more people without their homes, and raising donations to help both countries started worldwide.
The post subject to this fact-checking claims that the IBAN number for donations raised for the victims in Turkey is the same as that of collecting aid for Ukraine. This is true, but that does not mean that the money is mismanaged as implied by the post starting with the word ATTENTION in capital letters.
What is IBAN?
IBAN – code is an international bank account number, a unique set of characters made up of up to 34 letters and numbers that help banks process transfers around the world. Banks and other institutions use IBANs to identify individual accounts. They combine local bank details into one string of characters, making it easy to identify the account when sending or receiving money.
If you are sending or receiving money on international level, most European banks will request an international bank account number – IBAN. IBAN is the most secure, most efficient way to be sure that your money will reach the place they ought to.
The author of this post claiming that the same IBAN number is used for different donations also shared a photograph of an IBAN number in the comment section showing that it was used for donations in both Turkey and Ukraine.
What exactly does this mean?
This IBAN – DE53 200 400 600 200 400 600 – is a IBAN number from Germany, not from Macedonia. That means these donations are raised in Germany and have nothing to do with the donations raised in Macedonia for the victims in Turkey. This was not notified in the post, hence the social network users might assume that the alleged mismanagement refers to the Macedonian donations.
This German IBAN number belongs to 23 German humanitarian organizations ”Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft” and ”Aktion Deutschland Hilft” that collect donations for people coping with various disasters. They are well-known German humanitarian organizations that offer humanitarian aid abroad in cases of big disasters and emergency situations. All humanitarian organizations, united in Unions, are civil society organizations that work independently from the governments. They have strict internal control procedures to prevent corruption and they are always checked by external auditors.
One can donate money on their account for the victims in Turkey and Syria by specifying the purpose of the remittance as a donation for the earhquake in Turkey and Syria.
On the same account funds can be donated for assistance to those copying with disasters of the war in Ukraine, but that also must be specified as the purpose of the remittance.
In actual fact, the procedure is the same with any bank account regardless of whether the persons is legal or natural. Nobody issues separate bank accounts for each cash flow. Therefore, with all the other data, there is also a category “purpose of remittance” in order to exactly categorize the funds paid.
Bearing in mind the above-noted argumentation, we assess the post as manipulative and out of context.
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This article has been produced within the project Fact-Checking the Progress of North Macedonia towards the EU, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation. The article, originally published by Truthmeter,, is made possible by the support of the American non-profit foundation NED (National Endowment for Democracy). The content of this article is the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, NED or their partners.
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