By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-12-13

The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), which once boasted an annual revenue stream of more than $1 billion from its self-declared "caliphate," has been reduced to covert online fundraising for survival, experts said.

The extremist group's new fundraising efforts, often concealed as appeals for "humanitarian aid" for residents of Syria's al-Hol camp, shamelessly prey on people's sympathies to extort money from them, they added.

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has documented how ISIS avoids its trademark symbols to evade detection and prevent account shutdowns.

Its 2022 study revealed these funds move through a network of informal remitters and virtual assets, with the money supporting extremist activities rather than the families they claim to help, according to Sky News Arabia.

"Many social media sites are seeing notable activity by dozens of accounts calling for donations to ISIS women in the al-Hol and Roj camps," said Egypt's Ibn Al-Walid Center for Studies New Media Department director Mazen Zaki.

ISIS creates false media platforms focused on al-Hol camp coverage using fake accounts and fictitious online identities, he told Al-Fassel, noting that the scale of these extortion schemes has increased exponentially.

Inside the camp, the group has erected signs and mobilized fighters' wives, widows and children to amplify appeals.

"The messaging has grown increasingly desperate, closer to begging than requests for donations," Zaki said.

Despite free healthcare provided by camp authorities and aid organizations, appeals frequently cite fabricated medical emergencies, he added, with hashtags that attempt to manipulate would-be donors' religious sentiments.

Finances in freefall

By the time of its defeat in 2017, the group's income had fallen to a fraction of its former billion-dollar annual revenue, according to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization.

This forced a dramatic shift in tactics, Ain Shams University economics professor Shaher Abdullah told Al-Fassel.

ISIS once generated substantial income by "exploiting natural resources, imposing taxes on civilians, collecting zakat (charity) and enforcing jizya (a tax on non-Muslims)," he said.

But these revenue streams vanished with its territorial losses, he added, while global crackdowns further restricted money flows.

"Today, ISIS is scrambling for any amount it can secure to fund its activities," Abdullah said, including financing sleeper cells that are dwindling under relentless counterterrorism operations.

The shift to small-scale crowdfunding marks a stark decline for what was once a group controlling vast territories across Syria and Iraq, he said.