GoFundMe has removed a viral fundraiser that collected more than $700,000 for an 81-year-old Texas delivery driver after discovering the campaign organizer was posing as a neighbor.
The platform’s Trust & Safety team learned that “Erin Howell,” the name listed on the campaign for Donald Johnson and his wife Josephine, was actually the couple’s daughter, Amy Johnson, 47. The revelation came after GoFundMe received a tip on Sept. 25 that raised questions about who was running the page, according to a statement the platform provided to NewsNation on Monday.
“Our Trust & Safety team identified factual misrepresentations, which directly violate our Terms of Service,” GoFundMe said in its statement to the outlet.
Amy told the platform she had adopted the false identity because she believed her parents’ story would resonate more with potential donors if it appeared to come from someone outside the family. She said she obtained the doorbell camera footage that sparked the moment from an actual neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. She maintained that the video itself was genuine and that every other detail—the 81-year-old’s job delivering lost luggage, his wife’s cancer diagnosis, and the family’s financial struggles—was accurate.
Johnson had been working as an independent contractor delivering lost luggage to owners’ homes for three years, a job he took up after Josephine was diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer. The elderly driver said he routinely worked 14-hour days and drove hundreds of miles daily to support his wife, putting more than 200,000 miles on a vehicle now plagued with mechanical problems.
Home security footage that circulated online showed Johnson hauling heavy bags up a flight of stairs to a customer’s door in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where the resident appeared visibly surprised to see an octogenarian making the delivery. The clip prompted an outpouring of sympathy and donations when Amy launched the GoFundMe on Sept. 2.
However, GoFundMe stated that misrepresenting an organizer’s identity or relationship to a beneficiary breaches its terms of service regardless of intent. The platform deactivated the page and refunded all donors.
“As a result, the fundraiser has been removed and all donors have been refunded. Ensuring GoFundMe is a safe and trusted place to give and receive help is our top priority,” the platform said.
“Taking action like this allows GoFundMe to protect donors’ generosity and our continued ability to support people who are fundraising to help others,” the statement continued.
Following the removal, Amy launched a new fundraiser for her parents on GiveSendGo on Saturday, where she addressed the controversy directly with potential supporters.
“My mom has pancreatic cancer. The bills are high. My dad is 81 and still works delivering luggage so they can stay afloat,” she wrote on the new platform.
She emphasized to donors that “the neighbor story is real. The doorcam video is real. The diagnosis is real. The job is real.”
“A lot of you already gave on GoFundMe. We are so grateful. That page was originally set up on my account because it was already established and we thought that would be the simplest way,” Amy explained.
“When the name on the page was updated, GoFundMe treated it as a discrepancy. We offered documentation. They refunded the donations anyway.”
GoFundMe, however, told NewsNation that Amy acknowledged during a recorded call that she had posed as a neighbor to establish the original page. On GiveSendGo, she acknowledged that the refunds had frustrated both donors and the family, insisting nothing about her mother’s treatment or her father’s age and work situation had changed, and that her parents still needed assistance.
“We started over on a new page so your support can actually reach them this time. If you already gave, thank you. If you can, even a little, it goes to her care and to getting him off those stairs,” she wrote.
“We will post updates. Thank you for the kindness you already showed this family.”
The GiveSendGo fundraiser had raised more than $45,000 toward its $100,000 goal as of Monday.