Fake crowdfunding site targets grieving family in Ontario – NBC Los Angeles

A grieving Ontario family discovered their GoFundMe account was spoofed on another crowdfunding website with scammers asking for money, NBC4 Investigates learned.

The original GoFundMe account was meant to help the family memorialize Gabriel Mendez, a teenager who died by suicide last month. His family created the fundraiser page on the GoFundMe site to pay for funeral expenses.

Shortly after, another page appeared online under a site called gofundraiser.org, also seeking donations. It was not authorized by Mendez’s family or friends, but the page duplicated all the information. The spoofed fundraiser requested payment in Bitcoin.

“He doesn’t deserve something like that,” Jessica Lopez, Mendez’s mom told NBC4 Investigates. “Why would you seem like jump at the chance or it seems like excited to do such a thing when there’s still a 15-year-old that’s not here anymore?”

NBC4 Investigates tracked down the company that hosts the website gofundraiser.org to Toronto, Canada and reached out with questions about the page fundraising for Mendez’s funeral. 

The company did not respond to NBC4 Investigates’ email, and the page was gone within hours. The website was also marked malicious.

A representative from GoFundMe.com where Mendez’s original online fundraising was posted said it offers donors “a full refund in the rare case that something isn’t right.”

“We are proud to offer the only donor protection guarantee in the crowdfunding industry,” the spokesperson from GoFundMe.com told NBC4 Investigates.

The Los Angeles Better Business Bureau (BBB) told NBC Los Angeles that it has seen an increase in fake fundraisers, including copies of original legitimate ones. One red flag is a donation request for payment in Bitcoin, the organization said.

“Scammers don’t just invent fake charities anymore. They copy real ones,” a representative from the BBB said.

Mendez’s family and relatives said they are relieved the fake fundraiser request is down.

“I don’t want anyone else feeling like what I feel, knowing that they have to put their son to rest, knowing that they have to bury their son,” Lopez said. “I want no one to also have to go through almost like a re-traumatization of then realizing that somebody is then taking advantage of that child passing.”

Here’s additional advice from the BBB to avoid crowdfunding scams:

• The legitimate GoFundMe page includes a named organizers and beneficiary in addition to the official GoFundMe donation interface and platform safeguards.
• Fake fundraising pages tend not to have organizers or beneficiaries while they operate under a different domain name.
• If fundraising pages ask for Bitcoin, that’s a “serious red flag.”
• Donors are urged to search for the fundraiser directly on the official platform and confirm links through trusted sources.
• Research charities through BBB Wise Giving Alliance (Give.org) or Charity Navigator
• Use a credit card to make donations for fraud protection.