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Scammers using young hospital patient's story to steal money
By Kristin Leigh
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With big, blue eyes and the happy, toothless smile of an infant, you wouldn’t guess what Kaelyn Hazelwood has been through in seven months of life.
>> PHOTOS: St. Jude patient Kaelyn Hazelwood
Kaelyn was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer at 4 months old.
“She developed lumps on the right side of her head,” her mother, Kristin Hazelwood, said. “They were soft to the touch. You could run your finger over them and they'd move.”
Derek and Kristin Hazelwood put their lives on hold in Texas and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where they spend their days in a hospital room at St. Jude.
“It's unfortunate that her vomiting, it's normal now,” Kristin Hazelwood said. “You just have to get on with it, because this is the way it is. Some days are better, some days are worse. You can't dwell on these things.”
As if having a child with a rare form of brain cancer isn’t exhausting, Kaelyn’s parents said they’re also dealing with a case of fraud. Someone created a fake account on Fundme.com, similar to the popular crowdfunding website, “GoFundMe.”
“It's deplorable for someone to be exploiting an infant with brain cancer for their own personal gain,” Hazelwood said.
The culprit stole the pictures from Kaelyn’s real Facebook, Instagram and GoFundMe pages and social media outlets that have become a support system for the family.
“They copied and paste the description from the GoFundMe I set up,” Hazelwood said. “If they're doing this to other people especially, I'd like them to be caught.”
The account holder changed Kaelyn’s name to Jamie Janee, but made mistakes that Hazelwood says clearly indicates fraud.
“They stole pictures of my daughter, changed her name and just tweaked a couple details,” Hazelwood said. “It was a really crappy, copy, paste, edit job. There should be some sort of responsibility factor. Or some sort of verification process. “
Fundme.com did not respond to an inquiry sent to its support email, the only form of contact on the website. And as of Friday afternoon, the page was still active.
If you’d like to donate to the Hazelwood’s or offer support, the family’s authentic GoFundMe.com page can be found at this link: www.gofundme.com/kaelynhazelwood.
GoFundMe also offers tips to ensure an account’s authenticity.
- Only donate to people you know and trust
- Look for a verification graphic. Some GoFundMe accounts are verified charities, or account owners can request to have Facebook verify their pages.
- Do your research. Check for websites and social media pages that also belong to a person or organization, and follow links to donation sites from those pages.
- Try to contact the account holder. Fraudulent account holders are often more difficult to reach.
- Trust your gut. If you have doubts, don't donate.
You can find additional information regarding account security at this link: https://www.gofundme.com/safety
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