Grieving mother says most of GoFundMe money was never given to family

A GoFundMe account was set up for the family of an Arlington, Tennessee, woman killed in a car crash. It raised more than $19,000 for Ashlyn Perritt’s funeral costs, but the family still hasn’t seen some of the money.

Amy Perritt lost her daughter, Ashlyn, 25, in a car accident last October. When someone Amy went to high school with reached out to start a GoFundMe account, she thought it was a blessing.

But now, it appears that kind gesture wasn’t so wholesome.

“We kept her on life support just long enough to get her organs ready to donation,” Perritt said when talking about the days after the daughter’s accident.

Heartbroken and confused about how to move forward without their daughter, the Perritts put their trust in someone they called an acquaintance.

“We were in a state of mourning. All we asked for is prayer,” Amy Perritt said.

The Perritts said the acquaintance came to them with the idea of setting up a GoFundMe account. The woman left herself on as an administrator of the account.

With Ashlyn Perritt's story as the driving force, the account raised more than $19,000 in just days. However, the Perritts said they still haven’t received more than $1,600 of that money.

“She had all the control with my child's name on it,” Amy said.

The Perritts said the acquaintance first sent money orders from the donations. Then, checks started to come in.

They never got anything from GoFundMe directly.

“You need to ask questions. You need to know who has control of the money,” Nancy Crawford, with the Better Business Bureau, said. “The crooks know that in times of stress, in times of tragedy, people are less likely to do their homework.”

That’s something the Perritts learned the hard way.

“That's the worst thing. Don't profit off our loss,” Amy Perrit said.

Late Wednesday, the acquaintance’s husband said they sent the Perritts all the money and have none left over from the account.