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| Johnny Bobbitt Jr., left, is shown with Mark D'Amico and Katelyn McClure |
Katelyn McClure, 29, created a bogus GoFundMe account that ended up taking over $400,000 from GoFundMe donors. McClure, on Monday, appeared in court to admit her role in a scam that allegedly sought funds to reward a homeless man who came to the rescue after she ran out of gas which never actually happened. Their so-called "fundraising campaign" attracted more than 14,000 donors seeking to help Bobbitt put his life back on track. Authorities say that McClure and her boyfriend went on a spending spree with the money including the woman's purchase of a BMW and designer handbags, trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and repeated excursions to casinos. All three pleaded guilty in court but Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless man, was given no charges but was rather placed in a drug-addiction treatment center. No federal charges are pending against D'Amico, the boyfriend, and McClure is only facing four years in prison. GoFundMe.com has refunded the donations back to the donors.
Questions:
1) Do you believe that the sentences for them were just? If so why?
2) What do you think about the concept of GoFundMe and should it be more secure?
3) Do you believe that the government should take action against these kinds of websites or companies?
Link:
I think that the government should always keep tabs on websites like these. Even though gofundme is meant for people to get help by telling their own stories, people like this can always get away with taking advantage of others.
ReplyDeleteGoFundMe should be more secure, and shouldn't let people make up stories like she did. The government should check these websites, so no one can take people's money.
ReplyDeleteThe government should not bother doing anything about these types of websites; while the concept of GoFundMe is a good one, people should simply be more cautious when donating to random people on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteI do think that the consequences are just because of the fact that they spent $400,000 from caring people on unnecessary things like a BMW and designer bags.
ReplyDeleteThe government shouldnt check the websites people just need to be more cautious about who they are giving money to.
ReplyDeleteThe government should do something to verify if people are using websites like these just to scam people and see if the problem is legitamate
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the sentences for the boyfriend and the homeless man were fair because if they all took part in the crime, even as accomplices to McClure, they should’ve received a higher punishment.
ReplyDelete- Angela Hedlin
The government should really censor websites like go fund me. It is quite sketchy to give money to a cause that isnt verified
ReplyDeleteI think that in order for a cause to be on the go fund me website it should be a verified cause so that people don't get scammed and so that there are only real causes on the site
ReplyDeleteThe sentence for McClure were warranted, but I think she should have gotten more time for scamming so much money out of so many people. Her boyfriend should have gotten time too because he also used the 400,000 that was not his nor his girlfriend.
ReplyDelete