Dear Abby: My friend’s house was severely damaged in a hurricane and she lost a lot of the contents. Mind you, she was one of the lucky ones. Others in her community lost everything. One of her friends started a GoFundMe account to help with repair costs, and it is now up to thousands of dollars.
My problem with this is: She’s now on her third trip to Europe this year. She constantly spends money, has thousands of dollars in credit card debt and tells me she’s broke. Granted, two of the trips were partly funded by her partner. Normally, she would post details about her trips on social media, but this time she’s not. Instead, she’s posting pictures of her house construction and implying that she’s there.
I’ve considered outing her on social media, but I decided against doing that. I just can’t get beyond what she’s doing and don’t think I can continue my friendship. Am I justified?
— Full Disclosure in Florida
Dear Full Disclosure: Yes, you are justified. What you have described is fraud. Go online to your friend’s GoFundMe page (gofundme.com) and you will find a “Report” button. Because you have reason to believe she is misusing the funds that have been contributed for the repair of her house, use that “Report” button to alert the GoFundMe team about this potential issue, and they will investigate.
