A SKINT dad who raised more than £2,000 on GoFundMe to pay for his family Christmas claims scammers are posing as him to target wellwishers.
Ben Buckley, 32, made a plea on the fundraising site to help treat his family over the festive period and smashed his target.
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But he has warned wellwishers not to donate to any other GoFundMe page after he was accused of setting up a second page asking for £3,000 to pay for his birthday.
The fake page, which appears to have been removed, is called ‘Ben Buckley Birthday Fund’ and uses a picture of Ben on his original page.
One woman said: “Ben’s being greedy he now wants 3k for his birthday!!”
While another posted: “Now trying for another 3k for a birthday fund for himself!!!”
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But Ben, from Hull, posted an update saying the page was a fake and claimed fraudsters were using his picture.
He said: “Just another message. I haven’t and will not make another go fund me page.
“Someone is using my image of me to make additional pages please ignore these they have no affiliation to me at all.
“I only started this one out of desperation for my kids not for myself, thank you.”
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It comes after the 32-year-old last night apologised for “any offence” he caused by setting up the fundraising page.
Ben had earlier said he needed help after having to reduce his hours at work when his wife got ill during a “complicated” pregnancy.
As donations soared to more than the £2,000 he was asking for, the dad has expressed his shock in an update on the fundraising page.
He wrote: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone, all your kind messages and donations have been overwhelmingly kind.
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“I honestly can’t thank you all enough my self and my family appreciate all your generosity enormously and it will never be forgotten.
“To everybody who posted negative comments we are sorry if we caused any offence or upset anyone, this was never our intention.
“We never expected this amount of kindness or media attention.”
Ben added: “In the new year we are going to make it one of our priorities to make monthly donations to other go fund me accounts.
“We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and thank you again to all you kind hearted souls.”
Ben’s appeal came after his wife was admitted to hospital on several occasions with a lung infection – meaning she had to go on oxygen while pregnant.
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To support his family during the troubled pregnancy, Mr Buckley says he had to reduce his working hours.
But it left himself “struggling and panicking” as to how he would fund gifts and Christmas essentials for his children, including his new two-week-old baby girl.
Mr Buckley says he feels “a lot of panic and anxiety” as well as “feeling shameful” over his appeal, but claims he has no other choice if he wants to give his family a Christmas they will remember.
While his partner was pregnant, there were also fears that Mr Buckley’s daughter could have Down’s syndrome, causing more worry amongst the family.
That concern wasn’t realised and their new-born baby daughter was delivered just two weeks ago.
But when one worry stopped, the next one wasn’t far away.
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He said: “At the minute, what I have coming in covers surviving. I don’t like the feeling of being a charity case. I don’t like to feel like I’m begging.”
But he was slammed on social media for the appeal – with many families saying they are also struggling.
One woman wrote: “This is making me soooo angry. We all struggle to do our best at Xmas but my god man have some respect for yourself and your family.”
Another added: “I’m all for asking for help when needed but £2000 of everyone else’s money is a ridiculous ask.”