Fraudsters strike as Skegness man fights for life

Hundreds of pounds are being requested to be refunded after it was revealed fraudulent transaction were made to the plea to help the family of Chris Jones as he fought for his life.

Chris was taken seriously ill in Spain when a tick bite caused him to suffer liver and kidney failure. He already had polycystic liver disease and the bite caused septic shock which damaged his organs.

He spent over three weeks in intensive care in Spain before a medical flight flew him and his wife, Lorraine, back to the UK, where he spent over three months in Addenbrookes Hospital fighting for his life.

Currently Chris is in Lincoln Hospital on the transplant list for a new liver and kidney. Lorraine, who is also facing surgery this week, said: “As you can imagine I wanted to stay with my husband and I refused to come home without him.

“Our cousin set up a campaign on a site called Go Get Funding with a heading of ‘Chris Jones Fight for Life’.

“Many local people donated on this site to help with the cost of accommodation and bills that needed paying back home. I was astonished to learn that the site had raised almost £4,000. Some kind locals gave generous cheques and cash to family members and Tesco also supported us running a raffle and tombola.

“We are very humble to receive these donations and I feel proud my husband is held in such high regard by locals.”

She added: “I am happy to say Chris is quite stable whilst he awaits his transplant and if any of you would like to add your names to the list of organ doners to help him and others in his position, please don’t forget to make your wishes known.

“It is the best gift you could ever give anyone – the gift of life.”

But Lorraine raised a note of caution after being contacted by the website telling her fraudulent transactions had been made - and some money would effectively need returning.

She added: “I would urge anyone using these sites to be aware you may be asked to return money you have spent in good faith.”

In a statement Go Get Funding said that depending on which card service provider is used they are able to manage disputes and that ‘chargebacks’ – the fraudulent disputes instigated by the banks – can be initiated at any time within a 13 month deadline of the transactions.

In the Jones’ case they added: “We managed to preserve over half of the amount of the sum of the fraudulent donations before they could withdraw any more of their donations, and have asked them to return the outstanding amount (which is in fact just over £500), but to date this is still being negotiated.

“One thing that should be made clear is that they are not paying the money ‘back to our website’, they are returning fraudulent donations, via us, to the banks who are or will be reclaiming funds on behalf of innocent bank/credit account holders whose accounts have been compromised and had funds stolen.”

The site said ‘we are constantly reviewing and investing in fraud prevention and detection methods to ensure we remain a safe and trustworthy site for our users and 
visitors’.