GoFundMe Removes Johnson Fundraiser and Refunds Donors

GoFundMe removed a fundraiser for 81-year-old Texas luggage courier Don Johnson and said it refunded donors after its Trust and Safety team found factual misrepresentations that violated the platform’s terms of service. Reports said the organizer, who presented herself as a neighbor named Erin, admitted during a recorded call that Johnson and his wife, Josephine, were her parents and that she had created the neighbor persona to make the appeal more persuasive. The campaign, titled Help Don Retire, described Johnson of The Colony, Texas, as working to help cover costs associated with his wife’s cancer treatment. It gained wide attention after a video and fundraiser told the story of a man carrying luggage while continuing to work. The appeal presented its organizer as a local resident moved by what she had witnessed, without disclosing her family relationship to the couple. According to reporting on GoFundMe’s recorded call, the organizer acknowledged that she had filmed the video herself and had not identified herself as Johnson’s daughter in the campaign. She reportedly said she believed the story would reach more people if it came from a stranger rather than a family member.