Police investigating fake GoFundMe page; working on refunds
Michigan police claim 'Candace Kicks Cancer' account which claims to be raising money for a woman battling stage four breast cancer is fraudulent.
A Michigan woman claimed she was battling stage four breast cancer and got all her friends together to help raise money for treatments.
Friends of Candace Streng hosted a fundraiser at an Aurbee’s in South Lyon in June 2017 where they raised $6,000. She also set up a GoFundMe page called “Candace Kicks Cancer” which raised more than $30,000 in donations.
However, it seems it was all fake.
Brighton police said the investigation is still ongoing, however, they have enough evidence to suggest that Streng was not sick at all and that the account was a fraud, FOX 2 Detroit reported.
According to the news station, 399 people donated a total of $31,645 since the account was started in April 2017.
The GoFundMe page has since been taken down and the company said it was working with police to refund all of the money.
“It’s important to remember that misuse that is extremely rare on our platform. Campaigns with misuse make up less than one-tenth of one percent of all campaigns,” the company said in a statement. “With that said, there are unfortunate and rare instances where people create campaigns with the intention to take advantage of others’ generosity.”
As for Streng’s friends who hosted the fundraiser, the group calling themselves Candace’s South Lyon Play Group told FOX 2 Detroit they had no prior knowledge to her “deceit” and will work with police during the investigation.
“We were recently informed that our ‘friend’ Candace lied for several years about struggling with stage four breast cancer,” the statement said. “We let her into our homes, our families and our checkbooks. We had no prior knowledge of her deceit and are fully cooperating with the investigation. We sincerely hope Candace gets the help she so desperately needs.”
Police said formal charges against Strend should be expected in the near future.