Boston Bombing: Woman 'Fakes Injury For Payout' Audrea Gause was given $500,000 by Boston Marathon

[avaistheone1]

Source: Sky News

Police in Massachusetts said Audrea Gause, 26, has been charged with larceny after submitting a claim to the victims' fund last month saying she had been treated for a traumatic brain injury.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said Gause, from Troy, NY, received a cheque for $480,000 (£314,000) from the fund, which was created to help victims of the April 15 attacks that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

Ms Coakley said the claim alleged that Gause sustained a brain injury from the bombing and experienced long-term memory loss, impaired speech, and loss of some motor function that would require future surgery.

Authorities got a tip last week that Gause may not have been in Boston on the day of the marathon, and the hospitals later said they did not treat her, Ms Coakley said.

"There is no evidence that Ms Gause was an actual victim of the bombing," she said at a news conference.

Read more: http://news.sky.com/story/1118263/boston-bombing-woman-fakes-injury-for-payout

[Laurian]

1. Wow, don't they check or verify before handing out money?

[Nay]

3. Really! Don't they even see if she had been treated at a hospital before writing a check?? Odd.

[Raven]

5. I think they do check but in order to

nail her, she would have to be delivered the $ and accept it. There was one other case a month or so ago and I believe that's what happened.

[Igel]

10. It's a two-edged sort.

If you take the time to verify, that costs money and less goes to the victim.

If you take the time to verify, it takes time, and delays payouts to the victims.

Both are "bad" and some people find it unacceptable.

If you pay out quickly with scant verification, then often you fail to keep accurate records.

If you pay out quickly with scant verification, then often you payout to scammers.


Early in Iraq they paid out quickly. With Katrina, they paid out slowly. Then they paid out slowly. With Ike, they paid out quickly. With Sandy they paid out slowly, Obama blamed Congress, and any further accusation vanished.

In Iraq, they kept crappy records. With Katrina, slow payout was evidence of racism. Fast payout led them to front money to scammers--and when they tried to collect it back from them it was deemed racism. With Ike, they paid out money quickly and scammers got some of it, they attempted to take it back, there was a faint cry of racism but then it vanished from my radar.

[7962]

2. Scum. Throw the book at her.

[BeyondGeography]

4. I guess it gets lower than that in the fraud category

But not much.

[AshevilleKate]

6. Just like previous disaster frauds uncovered!

Leave it to some worm to take advantage of donated money and scam people who do not bother to check out stories a little better. The jerks who took huge advantage after Katrina, Sandy, and other disasters are no freaking better, but I hope they throw the book at this lady. She should have to go apologize to some of the victims' families as part of her sentence. That, and some community service in a trauma center of real brain damaged individuals.

[Paladin]

7. And this won't attract half the outrage of that "Rolling Stone" cover photo. (nt)

[obama2terms]

8. That's lower than low

But it happens. There are just some sick people out there that look for chances to profit off tragedies. A sad example of this is the people that faked injuries from 9/11 to get sympathy and money. The people that run the victim funds should check if the person submitting the claim was actually treated for the injuries they claim to have sustained. It sounds bad, but it will prevent people from trying to fraud the fund if they know their claim will be looked into before they even receive a penny.

[SwissTony]

11. I heard a story (possibly apocryphal)

about a bus company that staged a slight rear-end collision between two of its buses. There were a total of about 6 "passengers" on the buses, all of whom were actually company employees. While the buses were stopped and the drivers had stepped outside to "argue" as to who was at fault, a couple of dozen people jumped on the bus and "developed" injuries.

As I said, I don't know if it is true, but it's certainly plausible.

[msanthrope]

12. It's true. It's used as a teaching tool in certain East Coast law schools. nt

[obama2terms]

14. Wouldn't doubt it, some people will do anything to get money

There used to be this woman who lived across the street from us that attempted to get a bunch of money from a grocery store for "slipping" in some oil, and "injuring" herself. Well, when they looked over the security video it turns out she poured the oil herself! I think her fake out was even on one of those "World's dumbest criminals" type of shows.

[Jenoch]

9. I wonder if she is

related to Rosie Ruiz?

[Ash_F]

13. The only reason she got caught was because of a tip?

Where was PRISM on this?

[SoCalMusicLover]

15. Sandy Hook Shootings

Reminds me of that BI&*H who set up a fund for Noah Pozner, claiming she was a relative, and then pocketed all the money.

I hope she is being prosecuted. It's people like these who make life more difficult for every single decent person.

The last thing these charities need to worry about is being scammed by someone, when they're trying to do the right thing in an expeditious manner.