Transgender man Scams Donors out of $1,000 Dollars, Vanishes off the Internet

A few months ago I wrote a story about a Transgender man who was raising money for top surgery - ie getting their boobs removed so they would look more like a man. (Ok, it was more like seven months ago, but you get the point). I don't inherently have a problem with transgender people, but I criticized this fundraiser for a few reasons. Most serious was that the person said that their insurance was unclear about whether they would cover the surgery or not. Instead of negotiating with their insurance, or making sure beforehand whether they would be covered or not, this person simply decided to pay for the entire $7,000 cost out of pocket. Not their pockets of course, but through a gofundme - through other people's pockets. This seemed absurd to me because, as somebody who has been in dire financial straits myself at times, I would always do everything I could to minimize how much money I needed before asking others for aid. If you aren't doing everything you can, it is disrespectful to ask others for money. Here is that article: https://steemit.com/sjw/@pirateofthedtube/trans-man-wants-other-people-to-pay-usd7000-for-surgery-because-he-doesn-t-feel-like-talking-to-insurance

So why am I writing this now? Well, I kept up with the fundraiser for a time just out of morbid curiosity. I guess I'm a masochist or something, but it was interesting and depressing to see people throw away their money on this. It mostly would go silent for a week or two, then get a little rush. I'm guessing he was sharing it around from time to time. Imagine my surprise when I recently found it shut down, after only getting a little over $1,000.

So what's the story here, and why was it shut down? From what I have found, when a gofundme says it is "complete and no longer active", that means the person who created it voluntarily ended it. So this was not cancelled or found in violation of site rules as I had hoped at first.

Even worse, it turns out that Gofundme does not refund donors in situations like this. In fact, Gofundme allows the person getting donations to withdraw their money at any point in the fundraising process. In other words, this scammer walked away with over $1,000. Of course, that can not do anything to help with the surgery, since that costs $7,000. That went straight to this person's bank account. Here is the page now:

https://www.gofundme.com/top-surgery-fund-cancelled?fbclid=IwAR13QzOBteZx0vb33ORsG9GXyudci8VXEhiBmDz3ZjUinoCY6t07EXXhNOI

I had found their Facebook previously, and went to check on it. Of course, it no longer exists. I have not been able to find a new one with the same or a similar name. This person straight took the money and ran.

So what's the point of this post? If you want to donate to people, be a little careful. As somebody on the political Left myself, I have had to teach myself not to have too much of a bleeding heart. Don't let your heart totally shut out your brain. This person tried to use politics as a way to guilt people into fundraising. People turned off their brains to help an "oppressed" person because it aligned with their beliefs. Before donating, just look through the fundraiser, see if it seems legit, and make a smart choice. Also, make sure you aren't donating on a site where the person can just take the money even if the fundraiser totally fails to even approach its goal. Lastly, just don't help somebody who is too lazy to do even the basics to help themselves.

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