Family says they were defrauded by GoFundMe organizer who gambled away funeral funds

June 19, 2025 · 0 Comments

Written By PAULA BROWN

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

When Allan Oliver lost his 23-year-old brother Aidan late last October, he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support shown by the Shelburne community through a GoFundMe campaign.

But, what he never expected was that seven months after his brother’s funeral he would be fighting to receive more than $8,000 in donations collected on behalf of his family.

Following Aidan’s sudden passing on Oct. 30, 2024, a friend’s mother launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise donations to cover the cost of his funeral. The campaign raised a total of $15,200 to support the Oliver family during their time of grief.

“At first, I was overwhelmed to know that the community had our back,” said Oliver. “A bunch of people were donating and showing support and love. Seeing that from the community was overwhelming in a good way because it made me feel comfortable to know I’m not going through this alone.”

On the day of the funeral, Oliver said the organizer handed his sister $7,000 in cash, but claimed that the outstanding $8,200 was being held up by GoFundMe until they submitted a death certificate.

“We thought the money was secure, so we didn’t push because we thought once they resolve it, they’ll give us the money,” said Oliver. “I followed up with the organizer to say I can give any documents they might need to release the funds, but they didn’t respond to me at all.”

Records from GoFundMe show all of the money raised through the online fundraiser was withdrawn in November 2024. The records also show that $1,800 was withdrawn on the day of Aidan Oliver’s funeral.

For months, Allan Oliver attempted to get in contact with the organizer of the GoFundMe event, with little to no response. During that time, the weight of the outstanding balance for his brother’s funeral bill hung over the Oliver family.

“I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and never wanted to think they would use the money, especially because they’re a family friend. The money was raised so clearly for a funeral of a young member of the community,” said Oliver.

GoFundMe officially launched a fraud investigation at the end of May. The organization has a Beneficiary Guarantee policy that protects donations and reimburses donors from potential loss of funds due to organizer misuse.

GoFundMe told Oliver that he would have to attempt to remedy the issue with the organizer before they enacted the policy.

“The remedy was poor to be honest. We have confirmation that this person has committed fraud, she’s taken money from half of the donors and admitted to gambling [with] the money, and I had to set up a payment plan with her and document and track it,” said Oliver.

The Oliver family has filed a police report with the Toronto Police Service.

After months of waiting, Oliver received a shocking text message at the beginning of June from the organizer, confessing that they’d used the money to gamble and offering to repay it in installments.

“It hurt a lot, to think that someone would use my family’s pain and trauma for their own personal gain or wouldn’t think about what the purpose of the donations were. The money was raised for something devastating to my family and the community, and this person went out of their way to solicit donations,” said Oliver.

In early June, Oliver received an e-transfer from the organizer with the outstanding funds of $8,200.

Now that his family has received the outstanding donations, Oliver is calling on GoFundMe to implement better safeguards.

“GoFundMe needs to increase both their reactive and preventative measures to fraud on their platform. They didn’t reach out to verify my family was the intended beneficiary, and they didn’t reach out to verify we’d received the fund,” said Oliver. “As a platform, GoFundMe enabled a bad faith organizer to profit off of my family’s pain and when they were notified that my family didn’t have the money, even months before, they didn’t proactively do anything.”

Oliver is hoping that by sharing his family’s story, he can help educate others to prevent similar experiences in the future.

“If someone else has a GoFundMe up on your behalf, whether you know them or don’t, do everything in your power to reach out to GoFundMe and be added as a beneficiary or co-organizer on the event,” said Oliver. “You cannot just trust that the third-party organizer is going to disperse the fund to you as a beneficiary.”

With the financial burden now lifted, Oliver is looking to find closure and focusing on remembering his little brother.

“Aidan was the kind of person that the first time you meet him, you love him. Any community that he stepped into, he had a support group around him and people who loved him because he was that fun, outgoing guy people liked to hang out with and be around. He was the baby of our family and it was a tough loss for us. He always brought joy and light into every situation he was in.”

Oliver added that the family is now able to properly express their gratitude to the Shelburne community, who rallied to support them during a difficult period.

“We thank you so much for showing your support and love throughout this time,” said Oliver. “This situation doesn’t damper the compassion that the community has shown us and I don’t want it to overshadow their donations. It is still very much appreciated and we know [the community] had our family in mind.”