The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on February 22, 2017, 06:29:44 PM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028692453
Oh my.
MineralMan (90,928 posts) Wed Feb 22, 2017, 01:08 PM
Gofundme or Gofraudme?
As you might expect, the gofundme.com crowdfunding website is sometimes misuded by people to scam money from willing and well-meaning people.
As you also might expect, a website has popped up that details those scams. It doesn't catch them all, of course, but looking at it is sort of a clue about why you should investigate gofundme campaigns before making donations. Here's a link you can visit that gets you to gofraudme.com
http://gofraudme.com/
Before I make any donations to any online fundraiser, I try to do my homework. I look up the person who is asking for money. If there's something newsworthy about their request, I check to see if there actually is reported news in a real news source. I'm careful to try to discover information about the actual person making the request. That can be difficult, because there are few unique names out there. Generally, there is more than one person with the same name, so making sure you're looking at info on the actual person requesting donations can take some extra work.
The bottom line is that I rarely donate to individual gofundme pleas. There's always someone in my own area who needs help, and I learn about those through my local news outlets. I'm much more likely to donate to someone local than someone I don't know who is not local. Occasionally a DUer requests donations, or someone requests donations for a DUer. If I'm not personally involved with that DUer, I treat those requests as I do all other requests for donations. I investigate as well as I can. If I can't verify the situation, I just can't justify a donation.
Anyhow, the site at the link above is worth looking at, just to see some of the ways people have created fraudulent gofundme fundraising campaigns.
You know, it was a pity twelve years ago, when the primitives refused to check out scamdy.com to learn details about how they were being scammed by poor stupid Beth. I think scamdy was a predecessor to this gofraudme site.
Hekate (41,419 posts) Wed Feb 22, 2017, 06:53 PM
4. The world is a very big place, and a few take advantage of the goodness of others' hearts
My personal guidelines are similar to yours. I never give or pledge over the phone, for example. I tell all of them the same thing: send your request to me via US Mail and I will give it my consideration. If they say they are from PP or the Dems I say exactly the same thing, with the addition of "Thank you so much for doing this work." Planned Parenthood, by the way, gets at least $300/year from me, up from the $5 I used to give them in college and the $25 I used to give them as a single mother. Someday when we are on a fixed income, it will go down again, but you get the point --
As for DU, it is now so large that we really cannot know all our members. I have no recollection of a certain person whose "brother" has set up a gofundme account and is spinning a sad tale with lots of exclamation marks. I said I would say a prayer ("Please send good vibes") and I have. I do have very clear recollections of at least two rather unstable DUers who took others for a lengthy roller coaster ride and then (metaphorically) spit in their eye after actual personal contact, in one case threatening legal action.
I don't think you're being mean-spirited at all. Just cautious.
^^^the 70-ish primitive with a Ph.D. in ancient feminist mythology.
Really.
greytdemocrat (2,721 posts) Wed Feb 22, 2017, 07:22 PM
5. Caution is key
Thanks for the link MineralMan.
Yeah. It's too bad Minnesota Moses didn't link to scamdy twelve years ago too; it would've saved some primitives some bucks.
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I don't consider it a big deal.
I tend to give more cash to my own family who need it rather than internet beggars.
If you are going to give to people you don't know, your money goes a lot further donating to battered womens shelters or the local homeless shelters.
And if you get scammed? So what. That's between them and the Almighty... you did what you were supposed to.
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He's tries to present an image of a calm, reasonable guy, but in reality he is a gibbering moonbat.
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He's tries to present an image of a calm, reasonable guy, but in reality he is a gibbering moonbat.
That's exactly how he earned the Minnesota Moses moniker.
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TWO WORDS: ANDY McSCAMDY.
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TWO WORDS: ANDY McSCAMDY.
Yeah, it ticks me off that Minnesota Moses isn't using scamdy.com as an example of how gullible primitives need to check sites that monitor fund-raisers for honesty and open-ness.
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Yeah, it ticks me off that Minnesota Moses isn't using scamdy.com as an example of how gullible primitives need to check sites that monitor fund-raisers for honesty and open-ness.
I haven't rowed over to look at this thread. Are they blaming you for killing Andy like they are in the uppityperson thread?
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I haven't rowed over to look at this thread. Are they blaming you for killing Andy like they are in the uppityperson thread?
No, last time I checked, which was some hours ago, they hadn't.
Of course, the scam that rocked the internet was so long ago, and the primitives aren't really blessed with memories that can last more than a couple of weeks or so.
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DUmmies are upset with Sarasota Republican....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028690774
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Where is the big news George promised us was coming this week?
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Where is the big news George promised us was coming this week?
Yeah--I seem to remember that the rock-headed primitive said that "the other shoe will drop" on Tuesday . . . It's Thursday now, and no such thing has happened . . . Oh well! Too bad for the primitives, as Lucy pulls the football away again . . . :whistling:
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Where is the big news George promised us was coming this week?
Are 24 business hours up yet? Maybe they're bureaucrat business hours (IOW, allow a month or two).
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Where is the big news George promised us was coming this week?
Tom Arnold couldn't be reached for comment
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Where is the big news George promised us was coming this week?
I don't think the start of O'Keefe's exposure of CNN is what MM envisioned.