12 Shameless People Who Used GoFundMe for Questionable Reasons

The rise of fundraising campaigns over the past few years have shown the best and worst of human civilization. As nice as it is to watch complete strangers give money to help struggling teachers and cancer patients, it's also alarming to see how many people take advantage of crowdsourcing platforms to shamelessly get free money. Although the more brazen ones straight-up lie, others are more straightforward with asking strangers to give them money for alcohol, lottery tickets, and even "spiritual journeys." Thankfully, few people actually gave them money, but it does show you how bold people can be when they're begging the Internet for cash. Below, a few of the worst examples.

There's being a hardcore fan, and then there's this. Back in 2016, a guy tried to raise $35,000 to purchase Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. "I'm his biggest fan and figured I can round up enough scratch to purchase him so we can hang out and high five and sh--t," he wrote on his GoFundMe page. "Heck, I may give him a bro-hug or two as well." Although he never met his goal, he did raise $1,855, which he used to throw a concert to help raise money for the the nonprofit Autism Speaks.

Rapper B.o.B. is an outspoken Flat Earther who believes the government is lying to us about the Earth being round. For his GoFundMe, he wants $1 million to purchase weather balloons, satellites, blimps, and drones to help find the edge of the planet. It sounds like a joke, but he's dead serious. So far he's raised almost $7,000, which is incredibly depressing.

Back in 2015, shortly after the release of Matt Damon's film The Martian, a worried fan decided to start a GoFundMe to "rescue" the actor from Mars. "One of the greatest actors in Hollywood is currently trapped on Mars after a failed exploration," the GoFundMe page said. "We need Matt back on earth because he is due to be in another 'Bourne' movie. Matt is also a loyal friend to another Hollywood great Ben Affleck who needs Matt Damon's support as he goes through a divorce." It's unclear if the fan was serious or just seriously trolling, but the page raised $5 before it was taken down. 

Remember back in 2016 when Kanye West announced he was $54 million in debt? Well, one of his fans decided to help him out by creating a GoFundMe campaign to help the "struggling" rapper. "Recently, Kanye let us in on his personal struggle," the fan wrote on the fundraising site. "He is 53 million dollars in debt and it doesn't look like he's going to get Mark Zuckerberg's help that he desperately needs. We must open our hearts and wallets for Kanye today. Sure he is personally rich and can buy furs and houses for his family, but without our help, the true genius of Kanye West can't be realized." After gaining viral attention, he managed to raise $57,378, which was hardly chump change. However, since Kanye turned down the money, the funds were donated to a charity instead.

Although it sounds like a SNL sketch, former security guard Paul Flart is a real person who went viral earlier this year when he was fired from his job for farting at work. Upset with his dismissal, and clearly eager to exploit his newfound fame, he set up a GoFundMe for fans to donate him money. "For far too long, farts have been something to be ashamed of and done in secrecy away from wandering ears and noses," he wrote. "No more I say. Those who shame others who release their flatulence, Fart Blockers, shall not get away with their behavior any longer. No matter how wet or how dry, let those farts fly." Actually, on second thought, maybe this whole thing is a joke.

After Noah Cyrus' messy breakup with Lil Xan, she sold a literal bottle of her tears for $12,000 as a "joke." However, one insane fan didn't see it that way and took to GoFundMe to secure the amount of cash needed to own a jar of their idol's tears. After 15 hours (and $1,200 in donations), Noah's team contacted GoFundMe to get the page taken down and refunded everyone's donations.

A guy who was desperate to move out of his dad's house hoped the Internet could help him get rich playing slot machines. "I live with my dad, and I want to get out," he wrote on his GoFundMe page. "So my plan is to be able to win a jackpot at the casino, but I need an initial amount to go in with. I have practiced strategies on slots for over a year and I'm confident that with the right amount of money to buy in, and with a stroke of luck on my side, I could be successful and could turn my winnings into an ongoing practice. But I need your help. The casino I have in mind and the slot machines that I have picked out could grant me a great payout, but for the best odds, I wouldn't dare go in with any less than $500, and won't be walking out with less than $5000." Fortunately, no one donated.

Usually when startups ask for large amounts of money, they have concrete plans to show potential donors, from protoypes to sample artwork. "Slingshot Studios," who started a GoFundMe to create a Christian video game, didn't provide any of this, nor did they describe what the game would even be about. It wasn't exactly surprising when no one gave them any money.

A mysterious group of fans who call themselves "The Six Alliance" tried to raise millions of dollars to "buy" One Direction from their current management team. "We are The Sixth Alliance and we are trying to buy One Direction after Zayn Malik left the band on March 25th 2015," they wrote on their GoFundMe page. "We would like to buy One Direction from Modest Management so the boys Harry, Liam, Louis, Niall and Zayn have freedom to chose and have possibilities to decide on their own careers." However, after raising $1,500, the fans announced they successfully met their goal. Considering One Direction are still broken up, it's unclear what they did with the money.

Although Fortnite is free, the in-game currency isn't. There are lots of shameless people using GoFundMe to raise money for "V bucks," the virtual currency in the game. However, this particular GoFundMe campaign easily takes the cake for being the most ridiculous. Nothing tops a tear-streaked face.

When "Rebecca G" asked the Internet to hand over their hard-earned cash so that she could go on a free "spiritual" trip around the world, the reaction was predictably critical. Although her campaign went viral for the wrong reasons, she did get $155 from it.

Unlike other people in this list, Oscar Andersson wasn't beating around the bush when he asked the internet for $100,000 to help make him rich. "This started out as a joke to myself 'this can't be possible' but then I thought to myself, people buy stupid s--t every single day," he wrote on his GoFundMe. "There's apps that costs hundreds of dollars and they literally do nothing but give you a wallpaper stating that you spent money on something useless, people donate millions of dollars to Twitch streamers everyday and we all (me included) buy that daily snack, drink or whatever that we don't really need. What if you just saved in on that one dollar and gave that to me."

Looks like people aren't willing to fork over their cash, though, Currently, he has only $5. But hey, his campaign pretty much sums up everyone else's in a nutshell.