When you are fugitive from war, you will do everything to make your situation better, and that includes believing crazy rumors. An example here is the visualization of Europe in the eyes of the Syrian refugees. Here are some of my personal experiences with these rumors.

1. House, car, job for everyone

When the first period of asylum began, a huge rumor was spread in Syria – and it was that all refugees in Sweden are immediately given a house, a car and a job. However, there is a tiny complication: you must reach Sweden without been caught in any other European country. And of course, just specific smugglers are able to do this difficult task – or so they said.

2. iPhone or iMac?

When I was in Turkey, we tried each and every possibility we had to reach Europe. During these attempts we met a man who tried to convince us to go with him by telling us what will happen when we reach Italy. He said: “You should be ready to choose between an iPhone or an iMac!” and when I asked for the reason, he said: “Italy knows that you left all of your stuff in Syria, which is why the Italian government will give us compensation!”

3. Five-star service

No one can deny what Europe did und still does for refugees, but some photos from wonderful refugees camps in countries like Netherlands or Germany made the Syrians believe that all of refugees camps are great and the treatment there is perfect. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Many people suffered and were beaten in Hungary and Italy just to force them to fingerprint there.

4. A fortune every month

A lot of people, including some of my friends, think that the money we get every month is enough to buy fancy clothes and live like princes. They are even mad expressions about the money we get, like “the money there is everywhere, even on the floor” or “the refugees there need bags to put the money in.”

They don’t really know that what we get is “basic social security provision” and that most of the refugees buy used clothes and try to live an average life.

5. Transport ships

Earlier in 2015, a shocking rumor was spread. It said that German ships would transport the Syrian refugees from Turkey and Lebanon to Germany to reduce the refugees’ suffering. This news was shared on social media very fast, which was why the German embassy in Turkey and Lebanon published a denial of this rumor.

And many more of these rumors were and are being told everywhere. It sounds crazy but maybe these rumors helped some people to picture a beautiful life in their imagination or encouraged others to take the risk and accept the death game.

But if you look closer, you will realize that the only beneficiaries are the smugglers themselves. They don’t care if the people died. All they care about is the money.

By the way, I didn’t hear any fantasy rumors about Germany. I was told that in Germany you need to work very hard to prove yourself and you must be committed to the rules there. I think that those logical statements made me and many other people choose to come to Germany.