The online money crowdfunding platform GoFundMe had successfully returned as high as $403,000 to the 14,000 people who had donated the money to someone believed to have been a US military veteran.
As at Monday, the company said it had returned all the money back to the owners and have had the administration and processing fees all done.
The reason for the drastic move is as a result of a Philadelphia couple Katelyn McClure and Mark D’Amico who had started fundraising campaign on the site as of November 2017 after Johnnu Bobbitt Jr. allegedly gave McClure $20 when her car ran out of gas. The goal of the campaign was to raise as much as $100K to help Bobbitt with his rent and other living expenses but indeed, the campaign did went so viral that they got more than they had initially expected.
But an allegation was brought up against the 3 last month as they were said to be scammers who were working together with plans to spit whatever they got from people. The three of the alleged scammers were charged to court last month with theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception. An attorney for the couple declined to comment, according to CBS News.
McClure and D’Amico were scheduled to appear in court Monday, but their attorneys waived the hearing, a spokesman for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said in an email to CBS News. Prosecutors are currently working to present the case to a grand jury, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, GoFundMe had successfully returned the money back to those who owned them based on their principles and according to reports. There have been cases of scams and alleged lies all on the platform which is although not so alarming.