Sick fraudsters are trying to profit off the high-profile disappearance of Texas mom Suzanne Simpson by claiming to raise money for her four children.
The scam GoFundMe pages were set up after the 51-year-old went missing on Oct. 6 after a neighbor reported seeing her fighting with her husband, property tycoon, Brad Simpson.
Brad, 53, was arrested three days later and charged with assault and unlawful restraint, leaving their kids – aged 5, 15, 18, and 20 – cut off from both parents.
Scammers were quick to pounce on the tragic story, attempting to dupe friends and loved ones into handing over money to help the kids, Suzanne Simpson’s family warned on social media.
In an Instagram post titled “come home mom,” Simpson’s 20-year-old daughter posted a screenshot of one GoFundMe page labeled “Aid Suzanne Kids in Need,” urging readers to “please don’t donate to this … it is fraud.”
One scam fundraiser copied the language of the family’s real fundraiser on MealTrain.com, the San Antonio Exress-News reported.
The MealTrain.com page is raising money to support the missing mom’s kids. The real fundraiser has raised more than $65,000.
“To know Suzanne is to love her,” the fundraiser page says.
“Please help support these children during this time. They are beyond grateful and overwhelmed with the love and support the community is showing,” the statement continued.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told the San Antonio Express-News that a fake fundraiser has already been deactivated. The company said “zero funds were raised” for the fraudulent fundraiser.
The Simpson saga began on earlier this month, when the couple was spotted fighting at the Argyle in Alamo Heights, a members-only club, News 4 San Antonio reported. Later an across-the-street neighbor allegedly spotted the couple of 22 years having a violent fight outside their home in Olmos Park and later heard screams from a nearby wooded area.
The next day, Suzanne failed to pick her 5-year-old up from school.
When the investigation began, Brad didn’t show up for a police interview and skipped town, cops said.
He also allegedly recruited his friend and business partner, James Vallee Cotter, to help hide an AK-47 he had in the house. He reportedly asked Cotter to retrieve the weapon from his home two days after his wife went missing and conceal it, according to court records.
Cotter was arrested and charged with evidence tampering after cops found the gun hidden inside his walls.
Brad currently faces charges of assault causing bodily injury – family violence and unlawful restraint, but officials have searched the house, landfills and wooded areas for his wife’s body. He was also recently charged with fabricating or tampering with physical evidence and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Suzanne’s family does not believe she is alive.
Suzanne’s mother, Barbara Clark, alleged Brad had physically abused Suzanne before she disappeared.
“She called me up and told me the things that Brad had done to her physically,” Clark said at a vigil, suggesting the violence was “alcohol-related.”
Brad is currently being held in jail on a $3 million bond.
