Thieves have used a stolen identity to empty an online fundraising account for a Williamstown North boy with a brain tumour.
Two-year-old Rhett has a rare aggressive grade four cancer.
Following 12 operations, 80 per cent of the tumour has been removed but he still faces ongoing surgery and hospital care.
Williamstown North resident Nicole Smedley said her 13-year-old son, Harry, established a gofundme account for family friend Rhett after learning about his illness.
Harry raised about $2000 before Ms Smedley received an email she thought was from gofundme, which requested personal details for authorisation as her son was under-age.
She provided her name, address and date of birth but became suspicious after receiving a further email requesting photo identification.
It was then she contacted Rhett’s mother, Nicole Bell, to check she had been receiving donations.
Ms Bell discovered that all donations made over a two-week period – about $600 – had not been received and were presumably diverted to an unknown bank account.
“Those professional crooks have figured out you’re vulnerable,” Ms Bell said. “Anybody who is in this situation, who’s going through a terminal illness or illness of any sort, is vulnerable at that point and they’ve preyed upon that.
“It makes me sick.
“You just get really angry and then I think, OK, but I don’t want them to win against me emotionally.
“Let’s fight back and be better than that.”
Harry said he couldn’t comprehend how someone could steal the money.
“I just don’t really understand how someone could live with themselves after doing it,” he said. “Stealing all up is bad, but stealing someone’s money that they have worked for is even worse.”
But Harry is not letting the setback stop him.
On April 30, at 1.30pm, he will shave his head to look like Rhett at a fundraising event to be held at Eyecare Plus in Altona North.
All money raised and any future donations will now go into a secure bank account with funds to be handed directly to Rhett’s mother.
The hacked gofundme page, called Raise for Rhett, was still online yesterday despite Ms Smedley’s attempts to have it taken down.
Star Weekly contacted gofundme, which is investigating.
You can donate to Rhett directly via secure bank transfer at: BSB 633 000 – Account 156 44 89 87
