Amanda Todd’s Death Spurs Fake Fundraising Websites

With any high profile tragedy it seems it isn’t long until some one tries to take advantage of people’s grief, sympathy, and good will to make a buck. In the wake of bullied teen Amanda Todd‘s suicide, which has spawned an international outpouring of support, Canadian police report that some have set up fraudulent fundraising websites, allegedly asking for donations for Amanda Todd’s family. The fraudulent websites are not connected with the Todd family.

ABC News reports that police are trying to publicize the only legitimate account associated with raising funds in conjunction with Amanda Todd’s family to help people avoid the bad sites.

“Taking advantage of a family’s grief is despicable,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Peter Thiessen said in a statement. “We want to get the word out that there is one real account and anyone who is interested can make a donation at any RBC branch to the Amanda Todd Trust Account.”

Thiessen also told WLS 890 AM that there has been a major outreach of support through social media, with numerous tributes dedicated to Todd and anti-bullying campaigns being created. He said social media has been key to the investigation as well as police continue to search for the man who blackmailed and harassed Todd.

“One of our big challenges right now, is false information that is being spread by people who appear to be trying to use Amanda’s story to do harm or make a profit,” Thiessen said in the release.

Todd, a 15-year-old girl, posted a video to Youtube titled “My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm” on Sept. 7 and was found dead in her home town of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia less than a month later.