GoFundMe – Fraud Files Forensic Accounting Blog

Things aren’t always as they seem. I’m often suspicious. It’s a hazard of being a fraud investigator. But sometimes we’re not even suspicious of the right things.

Take the situation involving the homeless man (Johnny Bobbit Jr.) who allegedly gave his last $20 to Kate McClure when she became stranded on a roadside with no gas in her car. She and her boyfriend Mark D’Amico started a GoFundMe that ultimately raised over $400,000.

And now Bobbit, McClure, and D’Amico are being charged with fraud because the whole thing was apparently made up. Police went over more than 60,000 text messages sent by McClure and D’Amico, and this one from McClure to a friend of hers has the punch line:

Read moreGoFundMe Fraud (Again)

GoFundMe scams seem to be growing by the day. While the GoFundMe fundraising site can be a great resource for people who need to raise funds for legitimate charities and needs, it has also become a hotbed of fraud. And with the site taking a nice 5% cut of every dollar that is donated through GoFundMe, it seems the company’s motivation to shut down fraudulent campaigns may not be too high. After all, the site makes money whether or not a campaign is legitimate.

GoFraudMe was started by Adrienne Gonzalez to keep the company and the site’s users accountable. It all started when Adrienne reported a fraudulent campaign, and GoFundMe did nothing about it. She knew the campaign was fraudulent because all costs for Bart (the zombie cat) were covered by the Tampa Bay human society, yet someone was raising funds to cover for the care (that didn’t need to be paid for). While the company does shut down some apparently scammy campaigns, it doesn’t seem to be all that aggressive in doing so. The Bart campaign is still active as of today!