There was no fraud, the web page was updated continually, showing how much they’d raised and saying that they were now going for other things such as clothing, education, house, etc.
You can criticize people for choosing to contribute, but anyone who clicked the donate button on their web page did it with ample knowledge of the state of the campaign and the new goals etc.
of course I should have said there is no “obvious” fraud of the kind being suggested — I have read through the 18 live updates on the web page and they seem to have been quite transparent about upping the fundraising goal each time and giving indications of what else would be done for Chauncey and his mother.
That does not mean that the whole thing could not turn out to be some kind of scam, though I sure hope not. No way to know over the internet that the people involved are “real” as described and that the events transpired as described. But reading through the original appeal and all the updates, it does have some rings of truth to me.... for one thing, the “sponsor” of the whole thing just sounds credible to me, even if somewhat wild in his enthusiasms.
I hope it does not all turn out to be some kind of scam, there are too many of those in the world.
I didn't say there was fraud. I pointed out that in another time and in another medium, our government would have prosecuted for fraud. Do you not believe this?
I personally feel that this transcends mere fraud. My father would have whipped me to the edge of life if I had begged a farthing from anyone for any reason. This story speaks to the sorry state of individual pride our country has fallen to.