A fraudulent GoFundMe campaign claiming to raise money for the family of two victims of the January 2025 Washington plane crash collected $17,750 before being taken down, after a Russian lawyer identified suspicious activity and alerted the fundraising platform. The campaign, which had a target of $150,000, claimed to support the family of Kansas farmers Bob and Lori Schrock, who were among the 67 people killed when an American Eagle passenger aircraft collided with a US Army helicopter near Washington, DC. Gauthier Daniel Igorevich, a Moscow-based criminal lawyer, became suspicious after contacting the person listed as the fundraiser’s representative. His investigation revealed unusual email exchanges, including a request for a $15,000 transfer to a Skrill account.
Fake fundraiser claimed to support family of Kansas farmers
The GoFundMe campaign appeared after the January 29, 2025, collision involving American Eagle Flight 5342 and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. All 64 people aboard the passenger aircraft and all three helicopter crew members died.Among the victims were Bob and Lori Schrock, a farming couple from Kiowa, Kansas. They operated a canola and wheat farming business and were travelling from Wichita to Washington when the collision occurred.The fundraiser claimed to collect donations for the Schrock family and set a target of $150,000. It listed a contact named “Sam Lorri Otim”, supposedly from Kiowa, Kansas. However, when DTN investigated the campaign, it could not find anyone by that name living in the town, and the listed contact did not respond to the publication’s enquiries.
Russian lawyer noticed suspicious details in email exchange
Gauthier Daniel Igorevich, a Moscow-based criminal lawyer with Trunov, Ayvar and Partners, came across the fundraiser while researching a potential legal case connected to the plane crash. He was representing families of Russian citizens who had died in the collision, including relatives of former Russian-born figure skating world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.After finding the campaign, Igorevich contacted the listed representative to offer legal assistance to the Schrock family. However, the responses raised concerns. The person communicating with him did not provide a name and referred to themselves only as a “family representative”.Igorevich also found that the photographs used on the fundraising page were publicly available. He told DTN that these details made him question whether the campaign was genuinely connected to the victims’ family.
Alleged $15,000 payment request raised further concerns
The email exchange became more suspicious when the person claiming to represent the family allegedly asked Igorevich to transfer $15,000 to a Skrill account simply for his law firm to be considered for legal representation.The representative also claimed that the family had already spent $15,000 trying to secure the services of another law firm. Igorevich responded that his firm would reimburse the family for that amount.However, the person continued to insist that he send the money to the specified Skrill account before the firm could be given the legal work. The exchange strengthened the lawyer’s suspicion that someone was attempting to exploit the crash for financial gain.“I couldn’t just sit back. I had to report it,” Igorevich told DTN, explaining why he decided to alert GoFundMe.
GoFundMe removes campaign and refunds donors
Igorevich reported the suspicious correspondence to GoFundMe and shared details of his interaction with the campaign’s representative. He also contacted DTN journalist Todd Neeley, who investigated the fundraiser, checked the identity listed on its page and reviewed copies of the emails.By the time the campaign was removed on Monday afternoon, it had reportedly collected $17,750 towards its $150,000 target. The largest reported individual donation was $10,500, while another contribution was approximately $5,000.A GoFundMe spokesperson told DTN that the platform had removed the fundraiser, refunded donors and banned the account responsible from creating future campaigns. The company said it refunded $17,550, a figure that differs by $200 from the $17,750 reported as raised when the campaign was taken down.GoFundMe also confirmed that the organiser had never gained access to the donations because the money was being held securely by its payment processors.
GoFundMe directs donors to verified crash-related fundraisers
Following the incident, GoFundMe highlighted a centralised fundraising hub containing campaigns verified by its Trust and Safety team for people affected by the Washington plane crash.The platform said the hub was intended to make it easier for people to identify legitimate ways to support victims, their families and others affected by the collision. The incident also demonstrated how fraudulent fundraisers can exploit publicly available photographs and information about victims to make campaigns appear genuine.The FBI had separately warned in January 2025 about charitable fraud linked to mass-casualty incidents and disasters, advising people to verify fundraising campaigns and check whether donations are reaching their stated beneficiaries.
