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More than $400,000 in GoFundMe donations refunded in alleged homeless vet scam
Donations have been returned to everyone who contributed to a viral crowdfunding campaign that authorities say was based on a lie, a GoFundMe spokesman said Tuesday.
Prosecutors announced charges in November against three people who allegedly concocted a feel-good story of kindness to attract donations in October 2017. People donated more than $400,000 to the cause.
GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said Tuesday that "all donors who contributed to this GoFundMe campaign have been fully refunded" and that the organization was cooperating fully with law enforcement. Whithorne said cases of misuse "make up less than one-tenth of 1 percent" of GoFundMe campaigns.
In November, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey charged Katelyn McClure and Mark D'Amico, both of Florence, New Jersey, with theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft in connection with the viral story. The man described by the couple as a homeless veteran and good Samaritan, 35-year-old Johnny Bobbitt Jr., was charged with the same crimes. The story that prompted the donations: Bobbitt supposedly gave McClure his last $20 when her car ran out of gas. About 14,000 people donated to a campaign that promised to help Bobbitt start a new life, but authorities say the money was spent on luxury items and casino trips.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday December 27 2018, @02:12AM (9 children)
But that doesn't just apply to crowdfunding sites, it also applies to proper charities and other nonprofits. You need to do proper research to verify that a certain percentage of the donations go to donors rather than administrators and other pork. I once had a classmate who ran a nonprofit, something about donating to Africans, and she bragged that she could legally skim a third right off the top of everything -- which was substantial because she was the only employee.
And we all remember what happened to Occulus. It's a goddamn shame, because like capitalism or socialism, crowdfunding is an awesome idea in theory but greedy pieces of shit always manage to fuck it up.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @02:35AM (4 children)
Eth, your progress amazes me, that's truly a shitty post!!
Keep up the good job, but do take care [soylentnews.org].
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @03:23AM
Ya got me! I was gonna defend that post till I realized your point. I guess i shouldn't be surprised at EF, we really know so little outside his racism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @03:45AM (2 children)
How is it a shitty post ?
You're just another smart-mouthed faggot.
Some day someone is going to kick your teeth in for you, and maybe your rib cage too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @04:49AM
Hey dumbass, the point was that EF's posts are usually beyond shitpost. Shitty is an improvement for EF! I would imagone the down modded post above yours would indicate that, but then again it required not only following the link but applying some critical thinking skills as well. Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @11:33AM
Anecdotes and innuendo.
Non sequiturs and false equivalences.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @02:41AM
Could or had skimmed?
Bragged or warned/decried?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @03:03AM
"The big money is in non-profit" - common words of wisdom(?) at business schools during the 90s.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @03:26AM (1 child)
About 10 years ago, I started seeing a few stickers on cars saying something like "I bought carbon offsets for this car", or something like that. My first thought was how I could capitalize on this virtue signalling, like the people printing those stickers were doing. For every $1000 collected, plant a bush? Never followed through with it though, and that kind of greenwashing scam evaporated pretty quickly.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday December 27 2018, @04:24AM
Those kinds of scams are good from fleecing the good Goys of San Francisco, Boston, and New York. Totally righteous people with lots of money and little brain who will chuck $1000 at you without even thinking twice.
There are a lot of Jews in those places, of course, but Jews don't fall for scams. They might be cheap, but when they're not haggling they pay debt religiously and are more than happy to donate when its involved with Israel or migration to countries other than Israel.