A particularly shocking deception came to light on January 11, 2023. Madison Rosso, a 19-year-old American popular on TikTok, had been claiming for several weeks that she was fighting “stage 2” pancreatic cancer. With videos shared via her social networks, the student then asked her subscribers to send her money via an online kitty in order to help her pay her particularly high medical expenses…
“Donations will be greatly appreciated to help defray medical bills and allow Maddie to focus on one thing, which is to show that she is stronger than cancer and that she will beat it,” could we read on her GoFundMe page, a crowdfunding platform through which the young woman went to collect donations from Internet users.
Thousands of dollars raised
Unmasked by Internet users who noticed several inconsistencies regarding her cancer treatment, according to the New York Post, health professionals would then have alerted the authorized ones on January 11, 2023 for “many medical anomalies”.
An investigation was therefore opened in the process… But in the meantime, Madison Russo was able to collect the sum of 37,000 dollars thanks to donations from 439 people from her relatives, foundations against cancer or even individuals affected by her false history.
Up to 10 years in prison
Fake wig, infusion stand with a feeding pump filled with cotton balls, medical equipment in the name of a loved one, cash… Several clues in favor of a scam were found during the search of the young woman’s home.
In addition, the investigators found that the three hospitals in the region where the young woman had claimed to have been treated had never been visited by Madison Rosso within the framework of a treatment against cancer.
From now on, the TikTokeuse risks up to 10 years in prison.
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LZ