POLICE in Colorado are probing a website that claims it is raising money for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting but may instead be raising money for schemers.
“This is something we’re going to take very seriously,” said officer Frank Fania, a spokesman for the Aurora police department. “We will prosecute anyone we can who tries to take advantage of people after this unfortunate incident.”
Mr Fania declined to reveal what website was being investigated or the names of those behind it but said the detective conducting the investigation believes criminal charges are likely to follow.
Aurora began investigating the suspicious site after receiving tips from concerned individuals who noticed it on the internet. Enough concerns have been raised about other fundraising efforts that the Colorado attorney general’s office is looking into some sites it considers suspicious. In addition, a Facebook page devoted to Aurora shooting victims is no longer publicising efforts by private parties seeking donations.
“We’ve seen a few small cases of suspicious behaviour,” said Laura Alier, an administrator for the Aurora Theatre Shooting page on Facebook. “There are two specific situations that we are talking to the cops about.”
Deputy attorney general Jan Zavislan, who oversees a consumer-fraud hotline, said the attorney general’s office has not received any consumer complaints regarding charitable fundraising for the Aurora theatre shooting. He said scams involving charities often go unreported because people usually make donations on the spur of the moment and don’t check later to see how the money was used.
“People always take advantage of people’s goodwill,” Mr Zavislan said. “The question is identifying it and finding it, and if we identify it, we prosecute it.”
In another case, estranged members of the same family are accusing each other of improper fundraising. This week, a caller to the Denver Post alleged a Facebook page seeking donations for Ashley Moser, who was seriously injured in the shooting that killed her daughter, was set up by an estranged family member who had no business raising such money. The caller said donations should be forwarded only to a special fund set up at Wells Fargo bank or at helpash.org. – (New York Times)