Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay community foils scammers trying to cash in on expressway tragedy

By Laura Wiltshire
Hawkes Bay Today·
17 Nov, 2019 08:35 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Patrick O'Brien died in a car crash on the Hawke's Bay Expressway on Friday. Photo / File

Patrick O'Brien died in a car crash on the Hawke's Bay Expressway on Friday. Photo / File

Scammers who allegedly tried to take advantage of the death of Hawke's Bay community champion Patrick Tama O'Brien by soliciting donations have been foiled by an online backlash.

A fake fundraising page, claiming to be raising money for the funeral of Pat, was set up on a website called GoGetFunding shortly after he was killed in a crash on the Hawke's Bay Expressway on Friday.

The "scam" was spotted by Theresa O'Brien, Patrick's grieving wife, who shared it on her Facebook page, warning people not to donate.

The page was then shared across social media, including by Napier mayor Kirsten Wise, with warnings that it was a scam.

Napier councillor Maxine Boag contacted the website, and asked them to remove the page.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise warned residents about the scam. Photo / Facebook
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise warned residents about the scam. Photo / Facebook

It is understood no money was donated to the link before its removal.

Boag said she became aware of the scam when she saw it posted on Theresa's page.

She said it was horrible to think people would take advantage of a another family's tragedy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She wanted people to be aware it is easy to get a fake page taken down.

READ MORE:
• Hawkes Bay grieves after fatal car crash kills two Napier residents
• Patrick O'Brien: A shining star in Flaxmere who shunned the limelight
• Double fatal crash on Hawke's Bay Expressway prompts NZTA to change its barrier plans
• Local Focus: Bo's Mow's trading blows for business and family

A spokeswoman for GoGetFunding confirmed the page had been taken down and the user deleted and blocked.

"It is very common across all crowdfunding platforms, not just ours, for fake or copycat campaigns to be created by fraudsters."

Discover more

New Zealand

Hawkes Bay grieves after fatal car crash kills two Napier residents

15 Nov 10:26 PM
New Zealand

Tony Anderson remembered as a great dad, and a good man: a son's tribute to his father

17 Nov 12:09 AM
New Zealand

Patrick O'Brien: A shining star in Flaxmere who shunned the limelight

17 Nov 12:21 AM
New Zealand

Double fatal crash on Hawke's Bay Expressway prompts NZTA to change its barrier plans

17 Nov 09:46 PM
The scene of Friday's fatal crash. Photo / File
The scene of Friday's fatal crash. Photo / File

She said people target highly emotive campaigns, such as funerals, because donors do not tend to be as guarded. "They may not even consider someone would be heartless enough to create such an account."

She said the organisation has several measures in place to try to minimise the number of scam fundraisers appearing on the site, but they can be difficult to catch.

Her advice before donating is for people to ask themselves if they were referred to the page by family or friends, or if not, whether the link was found via a reputable source, such as a newspaper or television programme.

If people were concerned about a page, she recommended getting in contact with the customer service team so they can investigate.

Manager consumer protection at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Mark Hollingsworth, said it's important to stop and think whether a cause is real before donating.

"Scammers do impersonate genuine charities or crowdfunding platforms to seek donations or contact you claiming to collect money after a local, national or global natural disaster or event.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The safest way to donate on social media or through crowdfunding platforms is to donate to people you know who contact you about a particular initiative."

Hollingsworth said only use credit cards to donate money, not cash, gift card, voucher, or by money wire, and only after doing some research.

"If you believe you have given money or personal details to a scam, contact your bank and the police immediately."

There is no official page to donate to Pat's family.

Police were contacted for comment on Monday.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

How new speed limits are making Hastings schools safer

Hawkes Bay Today

Heavy rain watch north of Napier, potential to be upgraded to warning

Hawkes Bay Today

Four crashes in Hawke’s Bay send four to hospital


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

How new speed limits are making Hastings schools safer
Hawkes Bay Today

How new speed limits are making Hastings schools safer

The changes are part of Hastings' early rollout of lower speed limits.

16 Jul 03:49 AM
Heavy rain watch north of Napier, potential to be upgraded to warning
Hawkes Bay Today

Heavy rain watch north of Napier, potential to be upgraded to warning

16 Jul 01:20 AM
Four crashes in Hawke’s Bay send four to hospital
Hawkes Bay Today

Four crashes in Hawke’s Bay send four to hospital

15 Jul 11:58 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP