The Latest Rage: GoFundMe Accounts

According to Wikipedia: GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses.

All I know is there is a GoFundMe account set up for just about anything and everything. Yesterday before it was taken down, there was actually an account set up for a person suspected of murder and was on the run when he was in a shootout in OK.

People are asking for money for vacations, for plastic surgery, for parents of children who have cancer to pay for special gifts for the child, for micro-preemies so their parents can be at the hospital instead of working, etc. Those are just some that I have seen. So when is it ok to set up a GoFundMe account?

IMHO never. I abhor the thought of asking anyone let alone strangers to give me money. What happened to accountability? What happened to paying for things yourself? Yes, you might have to eat at home and not go out every night. Yes, you tighten your belt and get rid of unnecessary expenses. Yes, you eliminate extra Christmas presents.

So you ask why I should care or why am I coming down on maybe some needed recipients? Well, one of the biggest reasons was someone I know. A brother of one of the people I know started a GoFundMe account for his brother and wife and their micro-preemie, supposedly to help pay for medical care and to allow the parents to not work and be with their baby. What the fund did not tell you was that the baby didn't need medical care - the baby was automatically on the state's Public Aid program just because it was born at 22 weeks. The mother ironically works at the hospital where the baby was born and in the NICU where the baby was at. She was allowed to work and be there for her child while being assigned other children. She did not have to take off work. The father had just started his 6th job in just one year. Of course he had to be with the baby, right?

This family that I speak of above raised their family's Christmas present limit from $25.00 to $100.00. In lieu of purchasing presents that are unneeded at that limit why not sponsor a family in need locally. One I know. One picked by qualified social workers as needy. Not someone who is using that collected money for cute outfits for the baby, etc. Also did you realize that the person who starts the account actually controls the account? Do you know how many people who started accounts took the money themselves?

Here is another look at these GoFundMe accounts - people you need to be aware you are probably being duped:
GoFundMe - a great way to scam another