Terry Newman: Be careful, that crowdfunding campaign could be for ISIS

National Post

14-05-2025

One fundraising campaign on the popular crowdfunding platform GofundMe has been used to finance terrorist group ISIS under the guise of supporting Palestinians in Gaza, and it's not clear whether there could be more.
Article content
Article content
On Monday, at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, 12 year sentence was handed down to Toronto resident Khalilullah Yousuf, who pleaded guilty to participating in a terrorist group and terrorist financing.
Article content
Article content
Yousuf claimed he was crowdfunding on sites like GoFundMe for Palestinians in Gaza and Muslim religious events, but was instead sending the money to ISIS supporters in the U.S., Spain, and other countries. In combination with pandemic Covid Emergency Response Benefits (CERB) he received and crowdfunding, he sent over $35,000. To confirm his funds were being put to ISIS' use, supporters sent him photos of the weapons and ammunition it was spent on, as well as an ISIS flag.
Article content
Article content
Yousuf's involvement with ISIS wasn't limited to financing. Allegedly, as part of an International ISIS network, he communicated with the group online through encrypted messages, participated in recruitment, created propaganda, and provided instructions to these supporters on how to carry out attacks.
Article content
After a two-year investigation, which involved intelligence forces in Canada, the U.S., and Spain, Yousef was finally arrested in July 2023. His use of multiple methods to transfer these funds, especially cryptocurrency, which is increasingly used for funding terrorism, may have led to him being flagged.
Article content
Article content
Yousuf's case highlights the need for the strident inspection of crowdfunding platforms which host members claiming to raise funds for humanitarian purposes in the Middle East, not just for ISIS but also for other terrorist groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Samidoun and any other groups who may be exploiting the well-meaning nature of Canadians to fund and plan attacks here and abroad.
Article content
Article content
Whether the investigation into Yousef's ISIS financing began at crowdfunding sites, and whether they are all being actively monitored for terrorist funding in Canada is unknown. But they should be.
Article content
Setting up a crowdfunding campaign on a site like GoFundMe is an easy way to draw attention to a specific cause and raise money for it. GoFundMe describes it as a three-step process where a user is prompted to fill in the details of a campaign, share it easily with links to have it gain momentum, and fill out their banking details in order to receive the money.
Article content
GoFundMe charges a fee of 2.9 per cent plus 30 cents on each transaction. Given that, the platform, no doubt, wants to ensure that they are not facilitating the financing of terror. Intelligence services, for their part, can benefit greatly from having a record of the accounts these funds were paid to.