A Texas woman allegedly posed as a concerned neighbor while raising money for her elderly father, Donald Johnson, who went viral for working as a delivery driver to help cover his wife’s cancer-related medical expenses.
The fundraiser ultimately collected more than $700,000 before GoFundMe removed it over what the platform described as “factual misrepresentations.”
According to NewsNation, GoFundMe pulled the campaign after receiving a tip on Sept. 25 that raised questions about the identity of the person organizing it.
The fundraiser’s organizer had identified herself as a neighbor named “Erin Howell,” but GoFundMe’s Trust & Safety team later determined that she was actually the couple’s daughter, Amy Johnson.
GoFundMe shut down a $281,000 fundraiser for 81-year-old Texas delivery driver Donald Johnson and refunded donors after determining that his daughter had posed as a neighbor when setting up the campaign.
“Our Trust & Safety team identified factual misrepresentations, which directly violate our Terms of Service,” GoFundMe told NewsNation.
According to the outlet, Johnson’s daughter, Amy, said she adopted the identity of a neighbor because she believed her parents’ story would resonate more strongly with donors if it appeared to come from someone outside the family.
Amy said she obtained the doorbell-camera footage from a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. She maintained that the video itself was genuine and said the other key details of the story — including her father’s job, her mother’s cancer diagnosis and the couple’s financial struggles — were accurate
GoFundMe’s Trust & Safety team said it determined that the fundraiser’s organizer, who had presented herself as a neighbor named “Erin Howell,” was actually the couple’s daughter, Amy Johnson.
“Taking action like this allows GoFundMe to protect donors’ generosity and our continued ability to support people who are fundraising to help others,” the company said.
The fundraiser was launched on Sept. 2 and had already collected hundreds of thousands of dollars before GoFundMe deactivated the page and refunded donors.
Home security footage that helped propel Johnson’s story online appeared to show the 81-year-old hauling lost luggage to a customer’s doorstep
GoFundMe said that misrepresenting a fundraiser organizer’s identity or relationship to the beneficiary violates its terms of service, regardless of the organizer’s intentions.
Johnson, 81, has said he regularly worked 14-hour days and drove hundreds of miles to help support his wife, putting more than 200,000 miles on a vehicle that is now plagued by mechanical issues.
After GoFundMe removed the campaign, Amy launched a new fundraiser for her parents on GiveSendGo on Saturday and addressed the controversy surrounding the original page.
“My mom has pancreatic cancer. The bills are high. My dad is 81 and still works delivering luggage so they can stay afloat,” Amy wrote.
She also sought to reassure potential donors that the underlying story was genuine, writing
Johnson began working as an independent contractor delivering lost luggage to customers’ homes three years ago, after his wife was diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.
“A lot of you already gave on GoFundMe. We are so grateful. That page was originally set up on my account because it was already established and we thought that would be the simplest way,” Amy wrote on the new fundraiser.
“When the name on the page was updated, GoFundMe treated it as a discrepancy. We offered documentation. They refunded the donations anyway.”
GoFundMe, however, said Amy acknowledged during a recorded call that she had posed as a neighbor when creating the original campaign, according to NewsNation.
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