As you and I both know, GoFundMe insists fraud is a rare occurrence on its platform. So rare, in fact, that they’re busy deleting sketchy Pulse nightclub shooting GoFundMe campaigns.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Washington Post that her office is busy looking into 100 different fundraisers related to the shooting. Meanwhile, GoFundMe is sticking to their guns regarding fraud:
GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said in a statement that funds raised for Orlando victims or for Equality Florida would “not be released until the recipient is identified, verified and vetted.” He said the company had vetted and was in communication with more than 150 campaigns raising money related to the Orlando shooting.
“If a campaign is flagged as fraudulent or the campaign organizer cannot verify how the funds will be distributed, the funds will not be released until a beneficiary is identified and verified,” Whithorne said. “Additionally, in the rare case that a campaign is fraudulent, donors will be refunded.”
Whitehorne said GoFundMe had already “quickly removed a few campaigns who couldn’t verify the connection to the individual,” and it had a team and technical tools operating around the clock on the matter.
Hmm. 150 campaigns and “a few” have been “quickly removed” by GoFundMe — that doesn’t sound so rare to me.