People are looking to profit off Damar Hamlin‘s tragic injury by creating fraudulent GoFundMe campaigns, advertised as helping the athlete who’s currently fighting for his life … but we’re told the online company’s already cracking down on anyone pretending to help the Bills player.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe tells TMZ … there’s only 1 verified fundraiser on the platform confirmed by Damar’s family — The Chasing M’s Foundation Community Toy Drive, which has surpassed $4.7M since Damar’s incident, as we reported.
We’re told anything not authorized by the family is already being taken down in real-time.
For those unaware, several campaigns went live since Damar’s cardiac arrest Monday night … some saying the funds will benefit him directly while in the hospital, and others are exact replicas of his toy drive fundraiser.
It looks like the unauthorized campaigns didn’t pick up a ton of steam … one campaign was even created with the sole purpose of warning others about Damar-related scams.
It’s worth noting that not all of these fundraisers appear to be malicious — it seems some just want to help but didn’t go through the proper channels to get it done properly.
A GFM spokesperson tells us the company’s top priority is keeping people safe and to “protect the generosity of our donors” … adding that it isn’t uncommon for others to jump on the platform and try to help out. That being said, GoFundMe will continue to monitor the situation closely.
As we reported, Damar was transported to a nearby hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest on the field … he remains in critical condition in the ICU.