It's more important than ever to be on the lookout for scammers. The internet and social media have only made it easier for criminals to try and swindle your hard-earned dollars from you.
Recently, a New Jersey woman was brought to justice after being found guilty of scamming more than 14,000 GoFundMe donors to the tune of $400,000.
Katelyn and her ex-boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, were found guilty of concocting a GoFundMe scam in 2017, wherein they claimed to be helping a homeless veteran in Philadelphia, PA.
McClure and D'Amico claimed that Bobbit Jr. had given them his last $20 for gas after their car broke down on the interstate.
McClure and D'amico misled donors into believing that funds were being collected in order to get Bobbit Jr. off the streets and into a home.
The story quickly began to gain traction and McClure and D'Amico quickly began raking in tens of thousands of dollars.
Only instead of working to help Bobbit Jr. get off the streets, the former couple funneled the funds into their personal accounts.
The bulk of the cash went towards paying off a laundry list of the couple's personal expenses.
Up until that point, Bobbit Jr. was unaware of any illicit wrongdoing. He would eventually go on to accept a $25,000 payout from both McClure and D'Amico.
The homeless veteran decided to sue both D'Amico and McClure for withholding funds raised via the GoFundMe campaign.
The couple claimed that they were withholding funds until such a time arrived that Bobbit Jr. was clean and drug-free.
McClure received a one-year sentence and investigators continued gathering evidence in order to bring further charges.
This sentence, she was told, would be served concurrently in addition to her one-year sentence.
Prior to her conviction, McClure served as a New Jersey Department of Transportation employee.
Mark D'Amico was sentenced to five years back in 2019, a sentence that is also running concurrently with a previous federal term.
It seems an insurmountable task, but McClure and D'Amico will have plenty of time on their hands to come up with a more honest and transparent business model.
