Chase Harmer and a co-speaker break down fraud on GoFundMe, including a fake cancer story that duped church members and a campaign that scammed 14,000 donors. They argue crowdfunding platforms need transparency to restore trust and ensure money reaches people who actually need it.
Millions of people donate to GoFundMe accounts, but how do you know your money is really going to someone in need? Stealing donations intended for those in need. A new scam is targeting church members. Faking her daughter's brain cancer to— Took advantage of so many people.
Swindled some 14,000 donors.
Taking advantage of people's generosity. Sometimes GoFundMe is used by criminals to turn it into GoFraudMe.
The charitable giving space is broken. What's happening today is terrible. Story after story after story, to the tune of tens of thousands. Then you turn on the news, and all you hear about is another GoFundMe scam, or a new story about a charity set up for breast cancer that spent 80% of the donations on things other than breast cancer. The stories keep piling up, and nobody really knows how to solve them. So it becomes a bit disheartening. However, I had spent the last ten years pioneering virtual credit card technology from its very infant stages. I specifically knew how to solve this problem. That's why I'm determined to revolutionize this industry. But before I go into all the details, I'm sure you might be asking yourself, who is this guy and what qualifies him to talk about fintech? I'm Chase Harmer and I'm the founder of Wishes. And I've been in the payments business for over 26 years. And over the past few decades, I produced over $29 billion transactions. But more than proving my experience, processing $29 billion has given me a front row seat to see payments technology evolve. And after working with tens of thousands of businesses, creating several patents in card issuing, and exiting my last fintech, I wanted to give back. So after I left, I started donating to causes and charities more consistently. What I realized pretty quickly was after I made a donation, that money was never to be heard or seen from again. And I never knew how those donations ever made an impact on the causes or the people that I supported. In a study done recently by the Family School of Philanthropy, 81% of donors surveyed said they They want more transparency on how donations are spent. 65% of donors said they would give more if they understood more. 61% of all individuals surveyed said they don't trust nonprofits at all. Wishes solves the biggest issues that exist in charitable giving and establishes trust through transparency, with tax deductibility and rewards for social good. Here's how the Wishes app works. Wishes has patented technology that turns donations into virtual credit cards. Donated funds can be used And they're done through specific categories like groceries, gas, restaurant, hotel, airfare, general expenses, and 20 other categories, which allows both donors and the causes supported to understand both the donation and how those funds are being used. With other crowdfunding applications, how does the donor actually know where that money's going or what it's actually being used on? The fact is, you don't, which is what separates Wishes from the rest of the pack. Let's face it, the charitable giving space is broken, and I know that this platform will impact lives and inspire the world to give more. My team and I have been working on the Wishes app for the last 13 months and spent millions of dollars bringing this application to life. It's been hard, and at times I felt like giving up. Your participation in helping Wishes get to the finish line is crucial. The future of charitable giving is upon us. The only question is, will you be a part of it or not? Let's make change together.
