Crowd Funding Sick of It

H

Happy Retiree

Member
Location
Canada
Hubby and I were discussing how everyone wants free handouts. We are so fed up with this. It seems anyone who has some sob story wants money. I'm not talking about serious stuff like an operation for a sick child or something like that. But even at my former places of work, it was too much.

One example, we were asked to contribute money to a family who suffered a fire in their home because they did not want to pay for home insurance. I knew this family. They took vacations every year. They had parties with the booze flowing. So I'm supposed to contribute to help them?? And on the news and online, every Tom, Dick, and Harry is asking for money for some cause. I say BS.
 

Definitely. It's often a scam. Phony pregnancies, lost the baby, medical bills, child is sick etc.
At one place I worked, a co-worker aggressively asked for donations from everyone - until someone complained & the manager told her to stop or be terminated.
Not much different than the drug addicts & alcoholics at the freeway off ramps holding signs - "Anything Helps, God Bless."
 
What infuriated me, was two things. The first was a "Christian" couple refused to make a cake for lesbian wedding. Not a big deal, but they were hit with $100K fines.

Then I found out this "Christian" couple had posted the women's names, address and phone numbers encouraging people to harass & threaten them.

Sadly, "Samaritan's Purse" paid the fines (I'll never give to those idiots)

Them there was a baby soon to die, the parents revealed that "Before it dies, we want to send it off by giving it trips to various places"

The baby wouldn't remember squat, but it was obvious what the parents were doing. I'm sure they happily screwed people out of money.

But yes, I'm not willing to add my money to crowd funding.
 

The requests have gotten out of hand. Unless I know someone personally, sorry.

The undertakers must be doing well. Itā€˜s especially sad when someone dies unexpectedly. Friends will be collecting for a $10,000 funeral. Often much more is given.
 
Happy Retiree said:
One example, we were asked to contribute money to a family who suffered a fire in their home because they did not want to pay for home insurance. I knew this family. They took vacations every year. They had parties with the booze flowing. So I'm supposed to contribute to help them??
Click to expand...
My wife and me know a similar case. A house burnt down, but the family had no insurance. The local newspaper reported on this and asked to donate. But although the furniture was destroyed too, they asked explicitly ONLY for money.
 
This is something which is getting out of hand. They are taking advantage of people's generosity, which is despicable; and when it's a scam, they are obtaining money under false pretences, which is a criminal offence.
 
I do not give to gofundme type stuff...always gets my goat
when I see a request for fund me for medical issues right after
a person walks into the door of the hospital!!!!
 
I will only do this if I am familiar with the recipient personally and know the need is real. My great-nephew needed open heart surgery a few days after birth and insurance only covered about 80% of it. I was right there. My cousin's daughter in law died of cancer and her children needed things that I'd already known about... absolutely I donated. I don't like GoFundMe skimming off the top, so I try to give to the person directly if I can and tell them it's so they get the full amount without the fees taken out.
 
Come on, "Go Fund Me" is ripe for scams. If you want to give money for unverified pleas for cash, well.............. I know I'm going to sound like a scrooge, but I don't give to charities. I worked in one for a year. Most of the money raised goes to the salaries of administrators, and for PR campaigns for more money. Some cash gets through and does do good. Charities aren't for the relief of much, they're basically self perpetuating "charity" businesses.
Bah, humbug. Where's a puppy to kick.
 
It's not just go fund me and the like which are often scams but more and more, legit auction or sales sites like FB marketplace and Ebay are fast becoming places for more fraud than ever.

Only today someone posted on Nextdoor App that they'd sold something on FB marketplace. The box weighed 1.5 kg.. . They got a mail from the buyer accusing them of only putting coffee in the box, and not the item they bought, threatening with exposure if the buyer didn't refund their money , which was substantial.

the buyer asked for a photo of the parcel, which was indeed the parcel they sent.. and the buyer continued with their threat..

fortunately the seller realised this was a scam, and stated they were going to report it to the police immediately.... and with that the buyer suddenly took a different tact and said.. ''ooh sorry, it was a mistake, the neighbour who the coffee was for came to my door and collected, your parcel must still be at the post office''


Well of course this proved it was a scam and not a very clever one either . To send a picture of the actual box the seller sent.. then claim it was the wrong parcel.. proves that the buyer was blackmailing the seller into refunding their money...

..This is happening more and more.. ..
 
Last edited:
fuzzybuddy said:
Come on, "Go Fund Me" is ripe for scams. If you want to give money for unverified pleas for cash, well.............. I know I'm going to sound like a scrooge, but I don't give to charities. I worked in one for a year. Most of the money raised goes to the salaries of administrators, and for PR campaigns for more money. Some cash gets through and does do good. Charities aren't for the relief of much, they're basically self perpetuating "charity" businesses.
Bah, humbug. Where's a puppy to kick.
Click to expand...
You hit the nail on the head! Some 20 years ago we were members of a charity organization for children in developing countries. Each of the three CEOs got ā‚¬25.000 per month and 20 per cent of the money they collected from member fees and donations was used for salaries and PR. And they didn't allow that the members supported the family or the village by themselves, instead all of the money had to go to the organization.
 
Lee said:
I exposed someone on the Next Door app who was begging for money for her puppy to have an operation. This woman owns her own business in a neighboring town for dog clipping and pampering and has a long wait list as she is so busy.
Click to expand...
I'd have done the same if I'd been in your positon. People who take advantage of other people's good nature, particularly those who can ill afford to help but do.. make me furious!!
 
Last edited:
Disgustedman said:
What infuriated me, was two things. The first was a "Christian" couple refused to make a cake for lesbian wedding. Not a big deal, but they were hit with $100K fines.

Then I found out this "Christian" couple had posted the women's names, address and phone numbers encouraging people to harass & threaten them.

Sadly, "Samaritan's Purse" paid the fines (I'll never give to those idiots)
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about this story but just looked it up and Samaritan's Purse did not pay the legal fees. SP CEO Franklin Graham organized payment through funds raised independent of the organization. SP itself does great work and is one of the highest rated charities for the amount of donation dollars that actually go to those in need. I hate! that Graham tarnishes the organization by his personal political stances.
 
Last edited:
I donate for things for people I know such as funeral expenses for people in a bind, fund raisers for children whose parents have to give up jobs for lengthy hospital stays in another city. Just disregard the rest.
 
AnnieA said:
I don't know anything about this story but just looked it up and Samaritan's Purse did not pay the legal fees. SP CEO Franklin Graham paid through funds raised independent of the organization. SP itself does great work and is one of the highest rated charities for the amount of donation dollars that actually go to those in need. I hate! that Graham tarnishes the organization by his personal political stances.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Annie, for looking for truth. If only everyone would check rumors before they repost them, or at least say they don't know if it's true, it would benefit everyone. Samaritan's Purse is in Turkey (earthquakes) with a field hospital and they are still helping Ukraine with medical needs and in other ways. They do this around the world and also offer disaster relief here in the US.

I will just say that Franklin Graham runs a great organization and he is an American citizen with full rights to have and express a political opinion and support those opinions with appropriate funds just like anyone else.
 
Myrtle said:
I will just say that Franklin Graham runs a great organization and he is an American citizen with full rights to have and express a political opinion and support those opinions with appropriate funds just like anyone else.
Click to expand...

He certainly does, but I think its to the detriment of the perception of Samaritan's Purse which does amazingly good work.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top