The Sad Viral Baby Shower In Which The Internet Pitched In To Buy Gifts Was Actually A Scam

Just a few days ago, a tweet made the rounds showing a pregnant woman at the Golden Corral in Ohio seated with two empty decorated tables. The pretense of the tweet was that the woman in the photo had invited several friends to come to her baby shower, and no one showed up. To rectify the event, hundreds of people from the Internet joined to purchase everything on the woman’s Wal-Mart registry and even sent her money via PayPal.

While reporters in the area thought it was a great “feel good” story, it turns out that it was nothing more than an elaborate scam, and the woman the baby shower was for didn’t even know about it.

People started to question the authenticity of the event when they noticed that after asking if they could send money to the sad looking young woman, whose name is Chelsie Collins, it was going to an account in someone else’s name entirely.

After growing suspicion, several people called up the restaurant to ask about the party. The restaurant confirmed that there had been a reservation for 12 people and all 12 had shown up at the event on the day.

When nobody came to this soon-to-be mum’s baby shower the internet had the best response https://t.co/hJfgsDKQcP pic.twitter.com/4xfH9f1jQZ

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) July 25, 2017

Dorthy Holmes is the one behind the scam, saying that she posted the image to troll her classmates and people who were too rude to attend. However, when she posted the tweet, she stated that it was 100 percent accurate at the time and it was not intended as a scam. It took a while for the entire party to arrive, which is why Holmes says she felt justified in posting the tweet. She states she never expected it to go viral.

In Holmes’ defense, she says she and Chelsie had invited over 70 people to the party and only 12 decided they were going to attend.

Holmes commented on the story to New York Magazine.

“The moment the tweet was posted nobody was there. The tweet was 100 percent accurate at that point in time. It was not a turnout, her aunt was her only relative [at the party]. I had two of my personal friends. Her aunt brought three children, and her little sister was there. That was it … there was definitely not 12 people there.”

Chelsie Collins, who was clued in to what was going on not long after says she doesn’t feel as though the pair scammed anyone. According to Chelsie, it would only be a scam if she and her partner were not going to use any of the 300-plus items they received. She states that they will be using every single one of them.

The tweet from Dorothy Holmes’ Twitter account has since been deleted.

[Featured Image by HDKam/iStock]