Stop sending us money!

A picture that accompanies the Hoax Story

A New Zealand couple say they could have made a fortune from a hoax email that has circulated the world and prompted people to send them money.

They have been offered thousands of dollars, trips overseas, free accommodation and bombarded with generous people from all over the world, along with endless support for a non-existent 7-year-old who is said to have cancer.

But they just want it to stop.

The saga started a year ago when the Whakatane couple, who don’t want to be named, received an email about a girl named Amy Bruce. According to the email, she is a Whakatane girl with a large tumour on her brain and has severe lung cancer.

The email encourages recipients to forward the message to as many people as possible, saying the Make A Wish Foundation will donate 7c for every time the message is sent on.

The husband told the local paper

I got this email just after my wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer and I admit it hit a nerve. In hindsight it’s quite obvious the email is a hoax – I mean how would the Make A Wish Foundation even know how many times it had been forwarded

Two weeks after forwarding the message, the couple received a phone call from the Make A Wish Foundation telling them the organisation had never agreed to donate money. They learned their name and contact details had been put at the bottom of the email.

After a bit of detective work they found out the hoax had been circulating the world for the past five years and since July last year with their names, address and home and cellphone numbers at the bottom.

They said 

In the four years before our name came to be on the email, there is a real possibility somebody has made a lot of money from this hoax. The response has been absolutely astounding. People who think Amy is our daughter or granddaughter have just opened their wallets and their hearts. We’ve had cheques for $1000, $500 and $100 sent to our home, calls asking for our bank account details so money can be deposited, offers of free accommodation in Queenstown and Australia, and suggestions of herbal remedies to cure the cancer. We’ve had offers from groups, bands and artists who want to fundraise for us

One call came from a man in Asia who didn’t speak English very well and simply asked the couple how much money they needed for Amy.

Returning the money has not been an easy task for the couple as many envelopes did not have a return address. The wife said

We’ve had to search the white pages in an attempt to locate some of the people who sent money. Then we ring and explain the email is a hoax and most ask us to rip the cheques up. They are extremely grateful and admit they would never have known otherwise if the cheque had been banked

Even now, 12 months on, the calls come in daily.

I don’t answer my cell phone if I don’t know the number – just yesterday I got four phone calls from people wanting to help

All of their answerphones now have a message explaining the email is a hoax and both have a pre-emptive text reply set up saying the same thing. They have also called internet providers and asked if the email can be filtered somehow.

The wife went on to say

The worst part about it all, and what makes me really sad, is that in genuine cases most people would be skeptical about giving after this – I know I would be

A spokesperson from Make A Wish Foundation confirmed the Whakatane couple had been contacted and the foundation was confident they were not involved in the hoax. The spokesperson said

We are in the process of upgrading our website and we aim to list all of the hoax emails and scams the foundation has been incorrectly linked to

[Daily Post]