A Texas woman presented herself as a caring neighbor while helping her elderly father, who went viral as a delivery driver working to cover his wife’s cancer expenses, raise more than $700,000. The fundraiser was later removed over what GoFundMe called “factual misrepresentations.”
GoFundMe took down the campaign for Donald Johnson and his wife, Josephine, after receiving a tip on Sept. 25 that prompted questions about who was operating the fundraiser, NewsNation reported Monday.
The platform’s Trust & Safety team determined that the organizer, who identified herself only as a neighbor named “Erin Howell,” was actually the couple’s daughter, Amy Johnson.
“Our Trust & Safety team identified factual misrepresentations, which directly violate our Terms of Service,” GoFundMe told the outlet.
Amy told GoFundMe that she adopted the neighbor persona because she believed donors would respond more strongly to her parents’ story if it came from someone outside the family, according to NewsNation.
Amy said she obtained the doorbell-camera footage from a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous.
She maintained that the video was authentic and that the other details—including her father’s job, her mother’s cancer diagnosis and the family’s financial hardship—were also accurate.
Amy used an existing GoFundMe account to collect the donations, changing the account’s username for the campaign.
GoFundMe, however, said its rules prohibit misrepresenting a fundraiser organizer’s identity or relationship to the beneficiary, regardless of the person’s intentions.
“As a result, the fundraiser has been removed and all donors have been refunded. Ensuring GoFundMe is a safe and trusted place to give and receive help is our top priority,” the company said.
“Taking action like this allows GoFundMe to protect donors’ generosity and our continued ability to support people who are fundraising to help others.”
The fundraiser went live on Sept. 2 and received the donations before GoFundMe deactivated the page and issued refunds to every donor.
Home-security footage appeared to show Johnson carrying lost luggage to a customer’s door in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The resident seemed surprised to find the elderly delivery driver at the home.
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According to the family, 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.
The 81-year-old said he regularly worked 14-hour days and drove hundreds of miles at a time to support his wife. In the process, he put more than 200,000 miles on a vehicle that is now plagued by mechanical problems.
After GoFundMe removed the campaign, Amy started a new fundraiser for her parents on GiveSendGo on Saturday and used the page to respond to the controversy.
“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 assured prospective donors that “the neighbor story is real. The doorcam video is real. The diagnosis is real. The job is real.”
“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,” she wrote.
“When the name on the page was updated, GoFundMe treated it as a discrepancy. We offered documentation. They refunded the donations anyway.”
However, GoFundMe said Amy acknowledged on a recorded call that she posed as a neighbor to set up the original page, NewsNation reported.
She acknowledged on GiveSendGo that the refunds were frustrating for donors and the family alike, insisting nothing about her mother’s treatment or her father’s age and work had changed, and that her parents still need help.
“We started over on a new page so your support can actually reach them this time. If you already gave, thank you. If you can, even a little, it goes to her care and to getting him off those stairs,” Amy wrote.
“We will post updates. Thank you for the kindness you already showed this family.”
The GiveSendGo fundraiser had raised more than $45,000 of its $100,000 goal as of Monday.
