Sheriff warns of fake accounts seeking Wallace family donations

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department has warned on social media that two fraudulent accounts were set up on gofundme.com using the image of slain Deputy Dennis Wallace.

Wallace was gunned down Sunday morning at the Fox Grove fishing access near Hughson. David Machado is accused of the crime.

“As with any tragedy, there are always those criminals who find a way to take advantage of the great people in our community who want to help,” says the post on the Facebook pages of the Sheriff’s Department and Patterson, Waterford and Hughson police services.

The pages appear to have been removed, as no searches on gofundme for Wallace’s name or the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department found results. Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Royjindar Singh said Wednesday morning that the department reported the fraud to gofundme immediately upon hearing of it.

He said one of the accounts was linked to a man in Tennessee. In confirming the pages were not legitimate, the department was assured by the Wallace family that no one to its knowledge had set up an account on its behalf.

A gofundme spokesman could confirm Wednesday morning that one campaign, which raised $125 through three donations, had been suspended. Bobby Whithorne said the money had not been withdrawn from donors’ accounts.

“When a campaign is started on behalf of an individual, family or other beneficiary, the beneficiary has to be added to the campaign” before any money can be withdrawn, he said. Gofundme has multiple ways of confirming, for example, that someone claiming to represent the Wallace family actually does, he said.

Gofundme also guarantees that donors are refunded their money if and when fraud is discovered, Whithorne said.

“We have proactive tools to monitor fraud on the platform, and a team works around the clock to protect the site,” Whithorne added.

The Sheriff’s Department urges people interested in donating to Wallace’s family to use the official link it has set up on its Facebook page. That link is to https://www.stanislaussworn.com/donation.html. Donations can be made there using a credit card.

Alternatively, donors can go to any WestAmerica Bank branch and make a deposit into the Dennis Wallace Memorial Fund. By mail, checks may be made payable to the fund and sent to Stanislaus Sworn Deputies Association, P.O. Box 2314, Ceres, CA 95307.

Singh said residents also should know that neither the department nor any other legitimate group is soliciting donations beyond the account. No one should receive a knock at the door, a phone call or an email asking for contributions, he said. There’s no evidence that has happened, Singh said, but the department wants people forewarned.

He did note that calls are being made to buy materials and hire services related to next week’s funeral service for Wallace, “but nobody will be calling, say, a coffee shop to ask for donations.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 8:34 AM with the headline "Sheriff warns of fake accounts seeking Wallace family donations."