Nowadays, due to social networks, it is very common to hear stories of people who are going through a difficult situation and who require some kind of help, because due to viralization, it is even possible to locate missing persons. However, this advantage of the networks can be somewhat counterproductive, since there are those who have taken advantage of their reach to defraud those who offer their help willingly.
Such is the case of Madison Russo, a tiktoker who, incredible as it may seem, pretended to have a terrible disease so that her followers would make donations to pay for her treatment, but, finally, she was discovered and now she must bear the consequences of her scam.
The Eldridge Police Department in Iowa, United States, reported the arrest of Madison for a misdemeanor robbery, because the 19-year-old girl posed as a cancer patient after gaining popularity on the platform after sharing his story through various clips that he posted throughout 2022 and which gradually went viral.
According to TMZ, the girl began to share with her followers that she suffered from inoperable cancer and, from there, she began to receive financial help not only from her followers, but also from various specialized organizations that joined in support.
A GoFoundMe campaign was even managed, in which 439 donors participated, so Madison managed to raise the amount of $37,000 for his treatment. In addition, the young woman was interviewed by some media and even gave talks about her case.
On TikTok, Madison appeared wearing IV bags, but her mistake was that she had inserted a feeding tube to simulate oxygen spikes in her nose, as a kind of montage so that no one would suspect that she did not have leukemia or pancreatic cancer and that she did not have pancreatic cancer either. a tumor the size of a football.
However, users began to notice some strange details, such as the probe, it was then that they reported it to the authorities. Thus, the police reviewed the medical records of the influencers and found out that she had never been diagnosed with cancer at any nearby hospital.
The police assure that when searching Madison’s house they found a wig, nausea pills in the name of a relative, among other things that served as accessories to support the lie. Due to this, on January 23, Madison was arrested, although she was released on bail.
However, despite having regained her freedom, the young woman will have to face the authorities on March 2, as she is being charged with the crime of first degree robbery. If found guilty, she could face a maximum sentence of up to ten years in prison.
Until now, the tiktoker He has not said anything about it in his account, but it is very likely that with this experience people who generously want to support other causes will come to doubt their veracity, which would harm those who really need it. Do not believe it?