Mother: Scammers targeting 4-year-old drowning victim

IREDELL CO. — UPDATE -- Wednesday, April 15 -- Statement from the GoFundMe Team:

"The GoFundMe Team would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Austin Knox during this incredibly difficult time. Dealing with the loss of a loved one is a terrible experience, and to be further upset by confusion surrounding the validity of online fundraising campaigns makes it all the more painful.

After a thorough investigation into this matter, GoFundMe cannot identify a single instance of a fraudulent campaign set up to take advantage of Austin Knox's family.

While GoFundMe continues to be incorrectly cited in association with this story, a more likely scenario is that these fraudulent campaigns occurred on a less scrupulous website. The GoFundMe Team has always been incredibly responsive and quick to act whenever fraudulent activity is reported and identified.

GoFundMe cares deeply about its users. To help ease the financial burden involved with this tragedy, GoFundMe will be providing a gift of $5,000 to the official fundraising campaign for the family of Austin Knox, located at this link: http://www.gofundme.com/r8c73kw

GoFundMe must insist that members of the media use the appropriate channels to contact our team should there be any questions surrounding the validity of a given campaign. Doing so will help prevent the future distribution of inaccurate and misleading information.

UPDATE -- 11:50 a.m. Tuesday, April 14 -- A fake fundraising page for a 4-year-old drowning victim has been taken down.

The family of a drowning victim said private donations are pouring in after scammers used the child's name to make money. More than $3,000 has been raised for the family.

CLICK HERE for the correct page to raise funds for the child's funeral.

The mother of a 4-year-old drowning victim told Channel 9 scammers are stopping her from giving her child a funeral.

Austin West died April 4 after falling into a pool in Mooresville.

His mother, Lacey West, said she has been trying to make funeral arrangements all week, but said scammers set up fake fundraising pages first.

"It's been torture, hell on earth," she said, describing the last week of her life, since the moment she found her son unconscious in a pool.

"He loved to swim, he loved insects," West said. "He was my baby, my world."

Iredell County investigators told Channel 9 the little boy fell into the pool and his death was likely an accident.

Reeling from the sudden loss, his family took another blow when they tried to set up a fundraising page to help pay for funeral costs.

"All these evil people going to make GoFundMe accounts in my child's name, using my son's name. He just lost his precious life," West said.

West says her relatives and other donors fell victim to scammers using Austin's name. She said they have received notices promising a refund, but the family needs at least $4,000 by Monday to give the funeral home in order to schedule payment arrangements. So far, on their legitimate page, they have raised a little more than $400.

"People trying to rob my child and not even being able to give him the rest he deserves, I can't even put my baby to rest," West said.

In addition to the GoFundMe Page, the family also set up a fund at the bank. 

Austin West Funeral Fund
c/o Bank of America
P.O.Box 2051
Gastonia, NC. 28053

WSOC