Thanks due to the diligent eyes of the GoFraudMe readership for this one!
Meet Kelly Burnside, probably not his or her real name. Kelly is super new to Facebook, as in just joined this month yet somehow is already posting selfies and diatribes about her super interesting life working with — surprise — people in need.
Hmm. Just joined in March. And it’s March right now. OK wow but “her” only relevant post is OMG so tragic. This Kelly sounds like such a giving person, you guys.
Right, so you just joined Facebook and you’re already talking about your work with people in need like any of the 200+ friends you added out of nowhere have any clue what you do? Seems legit.
Anyway, Kelly has a GoFundMe campaign. And Kelly, being the would-be philanthropist “it” is, would like to keep this family totally anonymous.
In a plea for $5000, Kelly or whoever the hell this is writes:
This little family has lost everything they owned…They are currently homeless. I made this GoFundMe campaign for them, because they are too ashamed to ask for help…Therefore they will remain anonymous. Please everyone…anything helps.
Maybe this is a stupid question at this point, but why would anyone — even a legitimate campaign organizer which this isn’t as we’ll learn in a moment — use this particular photo for their campaign? What does a sick baby have to do with anything?
Ah yes, that sick baby. Let’s talk about that. Run it through our handy dandy good friend reverse image search and…
Paisley Morrison-Johnson, as you can gather from the reverse image screenshot above, is a little girl in South Dakota with a rare disorder that gives her a massive adult tongue. It was even in the Daily Mail which, while maybe not the most reputable of news sources, means she made international news.
Which also means that someone stole her photo to make some completely fake GoFundMe campaign trying to raise money for some anonymous homeless couple who doesn’t exist. Real original, “Kelly.”
So back to our friend Kelly Burnside. The person who tipped me off also reported it to GoFundMe earlier and by the time I got around to writing this post, the fake GoFundMe campaign had disappeared from the website, though Kelly’s Facebook page remains. So props to GoFundMe for nuking fake campaigns after you allowed them to go up and someone was smart enough to check them out and report them I guess? You can find an archive here.