BREAKING : Fraud concerns over Westminster terror victim fundraising page

March 26, 2017
| Report Focus News

A fundraising page for a victim of the terror attack in Westminster has been taken over by JustGiving, amid concerns it was set up by a fraudster.

| Report Focus News

Concerns were raised after donations began to be made to raise money for the family of Aysha Frade.

Users who searched for Elisia Evetts – the name listed as the administrator for the page – found someone with the same name had been convicted of fraud in 2013.

A crowd-funding page set up in the name of one of the victims of the Westminster terror attack has been taken over by the company in an unprecedented move after fraud concerns were raised.

A page set up with the stated aim of raising £20,000  for the family of Aysha Frade, a Spanish teacher who was killed while on the school has been taken over by JustGiving.

At the time of writing 94pc of the target had been reached.

A verified by JustGiving tag was added to the page after concerns were raised that the person who set it up had the same name as a woman previously convicted for fraud the BBC reports.

Kurt Cochran, Keith Palmer and Aysha Frade - The victims of the London terror attack33
Kurt Cochran, Keith Palmer and Aysha Frade – The victims of the London terror attack

In a message on the fundraising page the company has said:

“We’ve been carefully monitoring all of the pages that have been created to help those affected by Wednesday’s attack. We are ensuring that all of your kind donations are being used as intended.

“Because concerns were raised about this page, we are now managing it ourselves and reaching out to the family.”

A similar tag was added to a fundraising page set up with the aim of raising £250,000 (aprox. €288,000) for the family of PC Keith Palmer, the police officer who was killed by attacker Khalid Masood.

While it is verified now by JustGiving there is no suggestion of any concerns being raised about that page which has already exceeded its target and raised £703,059 (€811,209) at the time of writing.

More than $63,000 (£51,000) have been donated to help the injured partner of Kurt Cochran, a US tourist who also died on the bridge.

Relatives said his wife Melissa had suffered a broken leg, a broken rib and a cut to her head, but would recover from her injuries.