[00:00:01] Read Herjo made this claim about his 13-week-old puppy, Atlas.
[00:00:06] Myself, Atlas, and a friend were in a severe hit-and-run accident when someone ran a stop
[00:00:11] sign.
[00:00:12] Both his back legs are broke.
[00:00:13] He claimed on GoFundMe.
[00:00:15] People were so moved they sent him $14,065.
[00:00:20] Turns out there was no car accident.
[00:00:23] Police say the dog's legs were broken when Herjo kicked him.
[00:00:27] When tragedy strikes, it's natural to want to help.
[00:00:43] You might go to the scene of a tornado to help remove debris or if the disaster is far away.
[00:00:48] You might donate to a local charity that's providing aid.
[00:00:56] Sometimes victims use online platforms like GoFundMe, Facebook, or others to seek help
[00:01:01] for unique problems.
[00:01:07] Such campaigns can raise tens of thousands of dollars in a short period of time, especially
[00:01:13] if the story finds its way into news reports.
[00:01:19] Tragedies are fertile ground for scammers because they can set up fake accounts pretending
[00:01:23] to be victims and funnel the money of well-meaning people into their pockets.
[00:01:34] Even local tragedies are targets for scammers.
[00:01:37] Plastic jars show up in merchant stores asking for donations to help someone with
[00:01:42] a rare disease.
[00:01:45] Retail stores, even those affiliated with national chains, may ask customers when
[00:01:50] they check out to round up for a local cause.
[00:01:54] That money doesn't end up in the retailer's pockets, but it can go to charities with
[00:01:57] questionable motives and questions about how the money will be spent.
[00:02:04] I'm Jim Grinstead, and today on Scams & Cons we're looking at schemes designed to
[00:02:09] tug at your heartstrings and pull money from your pocket into theirs, leaving those
[00:02:14] suffering without the help they truly need.
[00:02:21] Jessica Smith had cancer.
[00:02:23] She told her friends it was a rare type of colon cancer that was expensive to treat,
[00:02:28] and she was running out of money, and that meant she was also running out of time.
[00:02:33] If she didn't get the treatment, her fate was sealed.
[00:02:37] Fundraising began through GoFundMe.
[00:02:40] She was a guest on a podcast where she talked about her diagnosis,
[00:02:44] her chemotherapy, and the struggles she faces.
[00:02:48] The podcast was hosted by Jeff Berg and Terry Coleman.
[00:02:52] Honestly, the whole interview seemed off from the very beginning.
[00:02:56] She was kind of going through like a cancer checklist.
[00:02:58] You know, she was feeling sick.
[00:03:00] She was taking off of work because of her illness.
[00:03:02] She was going through this checklist and it was almost too perfect.
[00:03:05] Others began to doubt her story as well, and when they pushed back,
[00:03:10] Jessica responded on NBC's Nightline.
[00:03:13] People have tried to say I'm scamming people.
[00:03:16] If anyone straight up came up to me and was like,
[00:03:18] I think you're faking this, I literally would say,
[00:03:20] okay, you're coming to chemo with me on Monday.
[00:03:23] She reappeared on the podcast four days later,
[00:03:26] taking aim at the people accusing her of lying.
[00:03:29] Here is my fitness for duty form with the word cancer on it.
[00:03:36] Smith stood by her story,
[00:03:38] but what she didn't know was that police were already investigating.
[00:03:41] After they say her own husband came forward,
[00:03:44] telling them he did not believe his wife had cancer.
[00:03:48] Jessica tried to bolster her story,
[00:03:51] but as police continued to investigate, it kept falling apart.
[00:03:55] They say her doctor told them those photos,
[00:03:58] which she claimed showed her receiving chemotherapy,
[00:04:00] was not chemotherapy at all,
[00:04:02] but an iron infusion for anemia.
[00:04:05] Even worse, when they tried to verify her claims of having surgery,
[00:04:09] investigators say they were told the doctor Smith claimed operated on her
[00:04:13] wasn't even in the hospital at the time,
[00:04:16] and that Smith was never a patient.
[00:04:19] In all, the campaign raised about $10,000 before it was shut down.
[00:04:25] GoFundMe and Facebook worked to return the money to the donors,
[00:04:28] and it will be up to a jury to decide whether she's guilty or not.
[00:04:33] Jenny Cattalto played the cancer card two and got $38,000 in donations.
[00:04:40] The Alabama Attorney General's office says she doesn't have cancer.
[00:04:44] Instead, she promoted two GoFundMe pages seeking money for her family to take a trip to Disney World
[00:04:49] and to defray medical bills.
[00:04:52] Cattalto was arrested and taken to jail to await court proceedings.
[00:05:00] Hey there, I'm James, host of Dakota Spotlight.
[00:05:03] We're back with a new season.
[00:05:04] You killed Chris, a friend's fight for justice.
[00:05:07] It's a chilling throwback to 1968.
[00:05:09] A college freshman Christine Rothschild is murdered on campus during her morning walk.
[00:05:14] Join us as we dive into this unsolved case and follow a friend's relentless pursuit of the truth,
[00:05:20] all the way from the flower power era to today.
[00:05:22] Binge you killed Chris on your favorite app or at dakotaspotlight.com.
[00:05:29] These days we could rightfully blame social media for many of society's ills.
[00:05:34] Is GoFundMe one of them?
[00:05:36] The company which was founded in 2010 says fraudulent claims account for one tenth of one percent
[00:05:41] of its crowdfunding efforts.
[00:05:43] It also works to refund money to those who've been defrauded and has stepped up its efforts to catch
[00:05:49] con artists.
[00:05:50] And now make sure money raised can be traced to the beneficiary before funds are transferred.
[00:05:56] NBC Nightly News asked Rob Solomon, CEO of GoFundMe about its procedures.
[00:06:01] To be fair, you don't know the fraud you don't catch, right?
[00:06:06] Well here's what's interesting about GoFundMe.
[00:06:08] We've had more than 50 million people donate and any type of misuse that you'll see will
[00:06:13] be reported by this community.
[00:06:15] In the terms and conditions it says GoFundMe can't guarantee that what you're being told
[00:06:19] is the truth by fundraisers.
[00:06:20] In the end donate at your own risk.
[00:06:23] Why upon reading that would people feel confident in donating through GoFundMe?
[00:06:28] I think at its core essence people are good.
[00:06:30] Sure there's some bad apples out there but people want to help each other out.
[00:06:34] In my research I didn't find any instance where GoFundMe didn't make good on its promise to
[00:06:39] refund donors money when fraud was discovered.
[00:06:43] Time for the big leagues.
[00:06:45] Meet Mark D'Amico, Caitlyn McClure and Johnny Bobbit.
[00:07:00] Poor Caitlyn.
[00:07:01] She was out of gas and stranded just outside of Philadelphia.
[00:07:05] She was in a panic but someone came to her aid.
[00:07:09] A homeless man who gave her his last $20 so she could make it home.
[00:07:16] Caitlyn wanted to repay the man for his kindness and started to GoFundMe page.
[00:07:23] In just a month the campaign collected more than $400,000
[00:07:28] and people sought to reward an already desperate man for his generosity.
[00:07:33] So did Bobbit our homeless man.
[00:07:36] He believed Caitlyn and D'Amico were holding out on him and he wanted his share.
[00:07:41] He turned to the courts for help.
[00:07:46] CBS Mornings picks up the story.
[00:07:49] Prosecutors say D'Amico and McClure bought a BMW and quote hit the casinos hard
[00:07:54] withdrawing more than $85,000 for trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
[00:08:00] Have you spent one dollar of that 400,000 on yourselves?
[00:08:04] No.
[00:08:04] Nothing.
[00:08:05] You're representing that right here and right now.
[00:08:07] There's never going to be any proof that you did that you did.
[00:08:10] Prosecutors say McClure sent a text message to a friend acknowledging the story was quote
[00:08:15] completely made up.
[00:08:18] Investigators said the text also showed the couple was pursuing a book deal.
[00:08:23] On November 19th, 2022, a man entered a Colorado Springs nightclub and began shooting.
[00:08:31] He killed five people and wounded 25 before he was brought down by a bar patron.
[00:08:36] The shooting left the city in shock.
[00:08:39] Anderson Lee Aldrich was charged with 305 criminal offenses.
[00:08:44] Immediately people began raising money for the victims and others impacted by the crimes.
[00:08:50] CBS 42 says some of those appeals came from people with no connection to the city or the crimes.
[00:08:57] In the past couple of days, Alicia Morales, a close friend of the victims,
[00:09:01] spotted a couple fake pages online asking people to donate for the cause but keeping the money for
[00:09:08] themselves.
[00:09:25] One page on plumfund.com, mirroring Morales Facebook donation page profile has already
[00:09:32] collected more than $4,000 that will never get to the victims and another scam on Instagram
[00:09:38] using Morales photo and asking people to donate.
[00:09:55] Hi, I'm Shawn McCabe.
[00:09:57] And I'm Carrie McCabe.
[00:09:58] We are, well, married obviously but we're also obsessed with the darker side of things.
[00:10:04] True crime stories, alien abductions, poltergeists. If it leaves you scratching your head and keeping
[00:10:10] those lights on at night, we want to hear about it.
[00:10:12] That's why we host the podcast Ain't It Scary with Shawn and Carrie.
[00:10:16] Every week we bring our listeners a true story guaranteed to send chills down your spine
[00:10:20] from history's most brutal serial killers to the mystery of spontaneous human combustion.
[00:10:26] Yep, lots of these stories leave unanswered questions behind and you'll get to poke through
[00:10:30] the rubble of the evidence with a hardened skeptic and…
[00:10:33] Someone whose mind is more open to fun.
[00:10:36] Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
[00:10:38] You can find Ain't It Scary with Shawn and Carrie wherever you get your podcasts
[00:10:42] and on social media at Ain't It Scary. Come play with us.
[00:10:51] Sometimes the need isn't immediate but ongoing.
[00:10:55] Police officers, firefighters and soldiers all have colleagues who have died or will be
[00:11:01] recovering from injuries sustained on the job. It makes sense that regular appeals are needed
[00:11:06] to help meet their needs. The appeal may come via a knock on your door or more likely a phone
[00:11:13] call from a real person. The call might sound something like this.
[00:11:17] Hi, it's John Cullen for the American Police Officers Alliance.
[00:11:21] It's the benefit drive done each year to support those who protect our nation's citizens.
[00:11:27] The 527 organization, the goal is to fight for their rights to ensure the police officers are
[00:11:32] receiving the tools and training they need to remain safe. So we're calling the citizens
[00:11:36] in the area for the one-time donation for the drive. Of course, we make sure you get
[00:11:41] everything, including the thank you letters showing you support the officers.
[00:11:45] The top sponsorships are $150 or $35. I just need to know which one we could put you down for.
[00:11:52] The caller usually works for a professional fundraising firm,
[00:11:56] and these firms often take a high percentage of the money they raise
[00:11:59] to pay inflated expenses. What's left may or may not go to the groups they say they want to
[00:12:06] help. Such was the case in New York where Fox 5 News said Stephen Riley,
[00:12:11] chairman and founder of the United Homeless Organization, was running a deceptive charity.
[00:12:17] In one of the most aggressive ambush interviews I've ever seen,
[00:12:21] and I don't mean that in a good way, reporter Arnold Diaz chased Riley down the street
[00:12:27] and into meetings to get answers. He got nothing from Riley but drama for the newscast,
[00:12:32] but other research did turn up some good information. The organization has tables
[00:12:38] set up around New York City where people can drop money into plastic jugs.
[00:12:42] That money is supposed to go toward helping the homeless. Here's Diaz.
[00:12:47] The truth is the money in the jugs gets split. Some of it goes to the table workers. Most of
[00:12:53] whom say they are or were homeless, but what you may not know is that each worker has to pay
[00:12:59] the charity a fee of $15 to $25 per shift just to use a table.
[00:13:06] The story ran in 2009, so Riley took a look at the organization's tax returns for 2007.
[00:13:14] United Homeless Organization's 2007 tax returns, the latest filed,
[00:13:19] lists Steve Riley's home in the Bronx as its headquarters. The charity reported income from
[00:13:24] fees of almost $98,000. It claimed expenses of $103,000. According to the returns,
[00:13:32] Riley as president got zero compensation, no money. But the biggest expense list it is
[00:13:38] $42,000 for stipends. No explanation of what that is. The second largest expense list it is
[00:13:45] automobile, $24,000. Fox 5 has learned that at least one vehicle's title was transferred from the
[00:13:52] charity to Stephen Riley's name. Andy wraps it up. The United Homeless Organization has about
[00:13:59] 50 tables around Manhattan according to one of its workers. If each table worker has to pay
[00:14:04] UHO $15 per shift and there's two to three shifts per day, that's at least $1,500 a day,
[00:14:12] more than half a million dollars a year going to UHO. A lot more income than the charity's reporting.
[00:14:19] But some would say it's Stephen Riley who's exploiting the public's desire to help the
[00:14:24] homeless. Profiteering from a system of organized hand handling he created.
[00:14:30] The charity's website says UHO provides food, contact information and referrals to various
[00:14:36] housing organizations to thousands of people 365 days a year. But there's no food at the tables.
[00:14:48] In 2009, a court ordered the United Homeless Organization to cease activities
[00:14:54] and a lawsuit was filed by then state attorney general Andrew Cuomo
[00:14:58] that claimed the organization engaged in a scheme to defraud and violate New York
[00:15:03] state's not-for-profit and charitable solicitation laws. The lawsuit also charges WHO, Riley and its
[00:15:11] director Milo Walker with engaging in a scheme to defraud in connection with charitable solicitations
[00:15:17] and making false filings with the attorney general. The lawsuit further charges Riley
[00:15:24] and Walker with violations of New York's not-for-profit corporation law and for wasting
[00:15:29] and misappropriating UHO's assets. In addition, the lawsuit charges Walker and Riley with
[00:15:38] failing to properly administer charitable assets. In 2010 the organization was permanently shut down
[00:15:46] and a judge prohibited Riley and Walker from ever participating in a non-profit again.
[00:15:52] You're standing in line at a grocery store or convenience store and when it's time for
[00:15:57] you to check out, you're asked if you wanted to round up your bill or throw in another couple
[00:16:02] of bucks for a charity. People are behind you waiting for their turn and it may be embarrassing
[00:16:07] for you to reject giving a small amount of money to what is presented to you as a worthy cause
[00:16:12] or you just want to get on with your life and a few bucks won't kill you. So you just say yes.
[00:16:19] You can go to four places on a Saturday. You can go to the grocery store, the drug
[00:16:22] store, the liquor store and you know the hardware you know Home Depot or whatever.
[00:16:26] All four of those people will ask me for two dollars and when you're busy, you're a mom,
[00:16:30] you're you know you're running around, you're getting groceries. The last thing that you're
[00:16:34] thinking about is having to answer questions so that gotcha factor is what kind of stops you
[00:16:38] in your tracks and your first response is oh okay sure sure I'll give you some money
[00:16:43] without even thinking about it and I think that we need to be able to think about it before
[00:16:46] we make these decisions about donating to charity. That's from an excellent CBC marketplace story on
[00:16:52] checkout charity. Reporter Tom Harrington says these techniques are not popular among Canadians.
[00:17:17] With all that tension at the till, why keep asking? Simply put, checkout charity is one of the most
[00:17:23] effective ways to seek donations. Just think of the millions of us who go through checkout lines
[00:17:29] every day at places such as the liquor store even when most customers say no, Ontario's
[00:17:34] liquor stores ask enough to raise more than one million dollars last year for Toronto's hospital
[00:17:39] for sick children. Harrington then goes to speak with Ted Gerhardt, CEO of the Sick Kids
[00:17:44] Foundation, which uses checkout fundraising. As a fundraiser the only way that you raise
[00:17:50] money is by asking people to give and whether or not that's at the checkout or around a board table
[00:17:54] or in a letter if you don't ask you don't get money. Our view is that that direct one-on-one
[00:18:01] ask between the person at checkout and the person who's buying something is an effective way
[00:18:07] because we do believe that people give to people. I would say that it is really really important
[00:18:12] for people if they are feeling guilted in any way again to say no. That's not our motivation
[00:18:17] in asking you to give and it's certainly not the feeling that we want you to be left by.
[00:18:23] But we have to look at the results that we receive every year from this kind of
[00:18:26] checkout charity and it's in the millions of dollars so it's very successful.
[00:18:31] People are like in a hurry especially at lunchtime or dinner rush,
[00:18:35] you know they don't want to be bothered. And that Ipsos Reads Survey shows people
[00:18:39] are bothered. 62% of respondents are against the idea of stores asking customers to donate.
[00:18:45] Even more 67% say it's usually not clear what if anything the store is contributing.
[00:18:51] Harrington also spoke with Duncan Fulton, Vice President of Canadian Tire Corporation
[00:18:57] about its efforts to raise money for its Jumpstart Foundation that helps needy kids get into sports.
[00:19:03] We've found that our customers really embrace Jumpstart and overwhelmingly our customers love
[00:19:08] the fact that we're involved in the community, they love the fact that we engage employees in that
[00:19:12] and they respect the fact that we're trying to engage them in that as well.
[00:19:16] Fulton says about 10% of customers donate when asked. He says that's high.
[00:19:21] The campaign raises about five million dollars a year for Jumpstart
[00:19:25] but does it also raise the company's profile? There's another aspect of this kind of a
[00:19:29] program which is what they call the halo effect. I mean you're collecting the money
[00:19:32] and you have this big program but you're getting kind of the glory too so does this help
[00:19:37] drive the success of the company doing these sorts of things even in the larger sense?
[00:19:41] I think I'd leave that up to the customers to tell us. I mean this is,
[00:19:44] I really mean it when I say this is being in our DNA so it's not something we do for brand,
[00:19:49] it's not something we do for marketing it's just it's what we do as a company.
[00:20:02] There are certain charities I regularly donate to. There are also causes that need immediate
[00:20:08] help like weather disasters that I may also respond to. What angers me is when I decide
[00:20:15] to help one of those causes and I find out the money didn't provide the services I wanted to help
[00:20:20] provide or worse some scammer stole money that should have gone to people who really needed help.
[00:20:29] Are the people who appear to be firefighters holding boots out to your car window really
[00:20:34] firefighters trying to help other firefighters? Or are they soliciting for another charity?
[00:20:43] The car behind you blows its horn and you need to add money into this charity toll booth
[00:20:49] or move on. You have seconds to decide what are you going to do? There's no good answer for these
[00:20:59] situations but if there is a cause you believe needs your help realize you don't have to make
[00:21:05] a decision on the spot take time later to do a little research then donate directly to the
[00:21:14] charity where all your money goes to help support the cause you believe in.
[00:21:19] Be a good person but don't let your generous heart make you a sucker.
[00:21:31] If you enjoy the podcast and want to support it please consider doing so via Patreon.
[00:21:37] For just $10 a month you'll help us keep the lights on so we can continue to create great
[00:21:42] content for you. You can sign up at patreon.com that's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com then search
[00:21:51] for scams and cons. There'll be a link in the show notes. We'll be back in two weeks. Thanks for listening.
[00:22:27] We also provide the context and nuance that these stories deserve. At Fruit Loops we're serving up
[00:22:32] true crime with a side of history, society, culture and some fun. Listen to Fruit Loop's
[00:22:38] serial killers of color on Spotify, Google Play, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.