The unfolding saga of a South Jersey couple who raised $400K for a homeless veteran has made national headlines. In recent weeks, the couple has been under scrutiny, facing accusations from the veteran that he did not receive the money.Money-raising sites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter became popular earlier this decade. Sometimes, fund-raising campaigns on those sites have been exposed as scams with the perpetrators arrested and found guilty of fraud.What is happening in South JerseyIn case you've missed the incident that has erupted over the past few days, here's the situation that has put crowdfunding into the public eye.Last Thanksgiving, Burlington County couple Katelyn McClure and Mark D'Amico launched the online fundraiser for Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless veteran, after he gave his last $20 to McClure when she ran out of gas on I-95 in Philadelphia last year.Boosted by the the holiday season, $400,000 in donations poured in to the campaign.But Bobbitt now says he didn't get all of the money. The couple claimed they did not give the full amount to Bobbitt immediately because he struggled with drug addiction and they feared he would blow it all irresponsibly.Now Bobbitt is suing McClure and D'Amico, and GoFundMe has promised to make sure he is made whole. The stakes increased on Thursday morning, when the couple's home in Florence Township was raided by police.A large amount of moneyAdrienne Gonzalez, who tracks GoFundMe campaigns on the watchdog website GoFraudMe, said that the Bobbitt situation in South Jersey is unprecedented in terms of how much money was involved."I have never seen ANYTHING close to this in the three years I've been covering GoFundMe fraud," Gonzalez said in an email.Over the years, there have been other noteworthy scams involving the use of GoFundMe. Here are few examples.Nevada mom fakes son's death, gets prisonVictoria Morrison of Carson City, Nevada, faked her son Blake's terminal illness and launched a GoFundMe campaign meant to raise money for the boy's bucket list.Morrison raised $2,000 in the campaign, which lasted over a month. Morrison was arrested in April 2017 and charged with obtaining money by false pretenses, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.Morrison pled guilty in May. According to KTVN, she faces a minimum of five years and up to 12 and a half years in prison.Prison time for stealing from fallen officer fundWhen Barry Sutton, a civilian contractor and former police officer, was killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan, the town of Rome, Georgia went into mourning. A GoFundMe campaign quickly popped up in Sutton's honor, organized by family friend Brandy Holder to raise money for a memorial duck hunt for the fallen officer's daughters.That hunt never happened.Holder withdrew nearly $5,000 from the GoFundMe campaign, according to The Washington Post. Sutton's family only saw $400 before Holder stopped returning their calls.Holder pled guilty to felony theft by conversion and was sentenced to two years in prison and another eight months on probation in October 2016, according to the Rome News-Tribune.By Michael Sol Warren | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
English
11 Eylül 2018 - 06:39
Here are 6 times people have been arrested over GoFundMe scams
The unfolding saga of a South Jersey couple who raised $400K for a homeless veteran has made national headlines. In recent weeks, the couple has been under scrutiny, facing accusations from the veteran that he did not receive the money. Money-raising sites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter became popular earlier this decade. Sometimes, fund-raising campaigns on those sites have been exposed as scams with the perpetrators arrested and found guilty of fraud. What is happening in South Jersey
English
11 Eylül 2018 - 06:39