After a New Jersey couple launched a fundraiser for a homeless man last year, donations poured in. But the story started to unravel in August, when the GoFundMe money disappeared, and now, it seems, everyone behind the fundraiser was playing us.
Let’s rewind to October 2017. Kate McClure, a New Jersey woman, ran out of gas on an interstate ramp outside of Philadelphia. Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless man, was allegedly panhandling nearby, and used his last $20 to buy McClure enough gas to get home. In return, McClure and her boyfriend, Mike D’Amico, took to GoFundMe, asking givers to help them raise $10,000 toward rent, a car, and a few months of basic living expenses for Bobbitt. The fundraiser went viral. In all, over 14,000 donors eventually contributed to the goal-shattering total of $402,000.
Plot twist: The $400,000 GoFundMe for a homeless man was all a scam
By Ben Paynter
November 15, 2018 at 08:00AM
via Fast Company http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fastcompany/headlines/~3/WQI9i9XWc94/plot-twist-the-400000-gofundme-for-a-homeless-man-was-all-a-scam