U.S. District Attorney Craig Carpentino discusses the fake fundraisers during a Wednesday press conference. Image by Molly Boigon

By Molly Boigon December 11, 2019

Scam artists have set up a number of fake fundraising pages to solicit donations after the tragic shooting in Jersey City last night, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey said in a Wednesday press conference.

“They’re creating fake GoFundMe pages to try and solicit donations, purportedly for the families of these victims, to line their pockets,” said U.S. Attorney Craig Carpentino. “I can’t — no words. I can’t find the words of how disgusting this conduct is.”

Carpentino said as of last night, there were no legitimate pages set up to benefit the victims, so anyone who gave donations has been inadvertently giving money to the scam artists. He did not quantify the number of fake sites, but the Forward has identified two.

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Carpentino encouraged any donors to contact the FBI and to check charities with the Jersey City police department to make sure money is going to a legitimate site. He said authorities are investigating the scammers.

“A reprehensible group of people are online, trying to profiteer off of the misfortune of others,” he said. “If anyone has any information about that, please contact the FBI immediately.”

Molly Boigon is the investigative reporter at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter [@MollyBoigon](https://twitter.com/MollyBoigon

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