A Look At Scams Carried Out Through GoFundMe

millions of people donate to go fund me accounts but how do you know your money is really going to someone in need let's Lisa Guerrero reports there are a number of scams out there when tragedy strikes GoFundMe is the place to go to raise money 10 million raised for victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting last year 15 million donated by generous people after a tractor trailer collided with the bus killing 16 passengers there are hundreds of worthy causes on the site but sometimes GoFundMe is used by criminals to turn it into go fraud me I'm Lisa Guerrero with Inside Edition what you're being accused of it's despicable did you intentionally injure your dog so that you could raise money from the GoFundMe site read her Joe made this claim about his 13 week old puppy Atlas myself Atlas and a friend were in a severe hit-and-run accident when someone ran a stop sign both his back legs are broke he claimed on GoFundMe people were so moved they sent in 14 thousand and $65 turns out there was no car accident police say the dog's legs were broken when her joke kicked him our investigation determined that the subject had actually abused this animal and caused injuries to the animal that he was now trying to raise money for in a misleading way you raised over $14,000 on a GoFundMe site what did you do with the money he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty then there is the case of 38 year old Jeremiah Smith an avid dart player who told his friends he had cancer and only months to live it broke my heart I mean I cried many times with them these good people were so touched they donated to Smith's GoFundMe there were people that probably never heard of them that donated you couldn't help but donate it even if I couldn't afford it I was donating turns out Smith was never sick he spent 23 thousand dollars in GoFundMe donations on paying off debts video games and marijuana he's pleaded guilty to theft he welcomed it and took advantage of so many people and it was just it was gut-wrenching in a two stay I'm still angry I hope they think twice and I hope that they will see that karma will get them do you want to explain yourself GoFundMe says misuse is rare but if it happens they refund donations which they offer to do in the cases you just saw [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Inside Edition

Views: 5,053,679

Keywords: investigation, Inside Edition, Inside_Edition, IE Investigates, gofundme, gofundme scam, lisa guerrero, fraud, car accident, puppy, raise money, scammers, crowdfunding

Id: 240NNa2O8t8

Length: 2min 36sec (156 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 10 2019