‘It’s Disgusting’: The Con Artists Who Exploit Mass Shootings

After a shooting at a country-music festival in Las Vegas in October 2017, in which 60 people were killed and hundreds more were injured, the Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer advisory that warned of “suspicious requests for donations.”

“Tugging at your heartstrings is a tried-and-true method scammers use to get to your wallet,” Emma Fletcher, a consumer education specialist with the F.T.C., said in the advisory.

The F.T.C. did not respond to requests for information about whether there had been confirmed instances of fraud after the Las Vegas shooting.

Olivia King was killed in a mass shooting at a Kroger supermarket in Collierville, Tenn., in September 2021. Days later, her son, Wes King, an assistant professor of teaching in music at the University of Findlay in Ohio, learned that two online fund-raisers had been set up, purportedly on his family’s behalf, without his family’s consent.

“Not only are we dealing with the sudden loss of our mother, this huge tragedy in our hometown, now you have these people trying to make a buck off somebody’s worst day of their life,” Mr. King said in an interview.

Ms. Lehman, the GoFundMe spokeswoman, said that a fraudulent page that had been set up in Ms. King’s name was taken down and that refunds had been issued to donors.

“You have people trying to capitalize on people’s shock, people’s grief, people’s rage and trying to get them to give them money — it’s disgusting,” Mr. King said. “I wish I could say it was surprising.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/04/us/michigan-state-shooting-fundraising-scam.html