Phony GoFundMe Shut Down For FL Dad Killed Teaching Son To Drive

WINTER HAVEN, FL — A phony GoFundMe that claimed to benefit the family of a Florida dad killed while teaching his teenage son to drive, has been shut down after Patch readers raised suspicions.

Patch brought the concerns to a GoFundMe representative as well as the Polk County Sheriff's Office on Monday night.

The GoFundMe representative said the donations to the family of 57-year-old Sandeep Kumar Beri would be protected even if the GoFundMe proved fraudulent.

The GoFundMe page claimed to have been set up by Beri's widow to pay funeral expenses "for a good man."

But Carrie Horstman of the Polk County Sheriff's Office told Patch that Beri's wife passed away from cancer in December.

"The GoFundMe appears to be fraudulent in that regard," Horstaman said on Tuesday.

A GoFundMe representative told Patch that the campaign organizer voluntarily deleted the page but was banned from the platform.

"All three donors will be refunded in full," said the GoFundMe representative, who said there does not yet appear to be a new GoFundMe to benefit the family.

"The campaign organizer removed their own campaign, signaling they were unwilling to work with us on the matter," the representative explained. "Once they deleted the GoFundMe, our team chose to refund the donations. This is in place because the platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means funds are guaranteed to go to the right place or they will get a refund."

You can find more information on the GoFundMe Guarantee here.

Beri was pronounced dead at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center on Sunday. See also Florida Dad Killed Teaching Son To Drive

His 7-year-old daughter, Sophia, was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando and she was expected to be released, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office. She had been riding in the backseat.

Fifteen-year-old Nick Beri, who was driving a PT Cruiser when it was struck by a car that jumped the median along busy Cypress Gardens Boulevard just west of U.S. Highway 27 in Polk County, was taken to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, where he was expected to make a full recovery.