Alleged cancer scam nets $15,000
Police have charged a Calgary woman with fraud for allegedly taking more than $15,000 from Good Samaritans in a cancer scam.
Earlier this month, police received an anonymous tip about an online group promoting a raffle to assist with health-care costs of 30-yearold Krysta-Lyn Williams, who claimed to have cancer.
But after an investigation, police have determined the diagnosis and the raffle were both faked.
Police allege Williams used a GoFundMe page and a fake WestJet ticket raffle to con thousands of dollars “for healthcare costs related to a cancer diagnosis.”
“It was determined that the advertised raffle prize of two $8,000 WestJet gift certificates was false and no raffle licence had been applied for through AGLC,” police said in a statement. “The raffle had raised $10,000.”
“Further investigation determined the suspect also created a GoFundMe campaign which raised approximately $6,800.”
Staff Sgt. Cory Dayley with the Calgary police cyber forensics unit said investigators were first tipped off in early May about the potential fraud.
He said Williams went “above and beyond” what investigators see in these types of scams.
“This offender really did take extra steps to legitimize … the medical condition they said that they had,” he said.
“It’s really unfortunate, and this is an elaborate one.”
Rachel Hollis with GoFundMe said the campaign has been closed, the campaign organizer has been banned from the crowdfunding site and donors are being refunded.
“We are also working closely with law enforcement,” Hollis said, adding fake campaigns make up “less than one-tenth of one per cent of all campaigns.”
Williams’ former friend Nikki Arsenault said she first met the woman and heard about her alleged illness in the fall of 2017.
Arsenault, whose mother had cancer, said the two women bonded quickly. Arsenault was expecting her second child at the time and said Williams even offered her some hand-me-down items free of charge.
“She went out of her way to help us out with getting a crib and nursery stuff and clothes, so in general I just thought she was a good person,” Arsenault said.
With a friendship forming, Arsenault decided to promote the GoFundMe page hoping to help raise $35,000 of a $70,000 cancer treatment only available at a Seattle hospital.
She said Williams claimed to have cervical cancer which went into remission then came back, spreading to four organs in her body. Williams even shaved her head and claimed to be going through treatments, Arsenault said.
When Williams said WestJet donated two tickets for a charity raffle, Arsenault helped collect hundreds of dollars from friends and shared the raffle on social media multiple times.
The ticket raffle happened on May 4, she said. A local bar hosted the event and made a night out of the raffle.
But Arsenault says when the winner tried to contact contest representative “Kenneth from WestJet,” emails went unanswered. Days later, Arsenault said she heard through friends Williams had been arrested.
“It was so, so fabricated,” Arsenault said. “It was such a huge story I kind of believed it because there was a Facebook page and a representative and tax receipts. There was even one of those big raffle wheels set up at the pub.”
Arsenault said she was able to convince Williams to reimburse some of the people she defrauded.
In a post on Facebook, Arsenault said she was heartbroken and embarrassed she worked so hard to help raise funds for Williams’ ruse.
“It hit people’s heartstrings, including mine,” she said. “It was just so elaborate. And the fact that my mom had cancer … it hits home for a lot of people, even myself.”
Dayley said police are still working to determine how many people have been defrauded, adding there could be hundreds impacted by the scam.