Fake Schrock GoFundMe Campaign Pulled

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A GoFundMe campaign allegedly launched to support the family of late Kansas farmers Bob and Lori Schrock has been taken down and donors refunded, after a Russian attorney representing Russian families and others who died in the Jan. 30, 2025, crash of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Blackhawk helicopter, told DTN he became suspicious of the campaign when trying to reach the family.

The farming couple from Kiowa, Kansas, were two of the more than 60 people who died aboard the American Eagle flight. Also aboard that plane from Wichita were former Russian-born ice skating coaches and world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov and other Russian citizens.

On Tuesday, a GoFundMe spokesperson told DTN the company not only removed the campaign but refunded donors the $17,550 raised.

"GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform," a company spokesperson told DTN.

"Our trust and safety team acted quickly to remove the fundraiser, refund donors and ban the account from using our platform for any future fundraisers."

The company said that "at no time" did the fundraiser organizer have access to the funds raised on GoFundMe.

"To make it easier to help those affected by the plane crash near Washington, D.C., GoFundMe launched a centralized hub housing all verified fundraisers related to the incident," the spokesperson said.

Gauthier Daniel Igorevich, a Moscow-based criminal lawyer with Trunov, Ayvar and Partners who is representing the skaters' families and others, reached out to DTN about an interaction he said he had with the contact on the GoFundMe page, https://trunov.com/….

Igorevich reported to GoFundMe a suspicious email exchange he had with someone claiming to represent the family's legal interests.

GoFundMe agreed with his assessment and by the time the campaign was pulled down on Monday afternoon, it had allegedly raised $17,750 of a $150,000 goal.

The largest single donation allegedly made to the campaign was for $10,500, and another donation for about $5,000 was made.

Igorevich provided to DTN copies of an email exchange he had with the organizers of the Schrocks' alleged GoFundMe.

Igorevich said he came across the GoFundMe while conducting research on a potential legal case on the crash. The campaign listed a "Sam Lorri Otim" of Kiowa, Kansas, as a contact.

But based on DTN's reporting there is no one by that name who lives in Kiowa and the contact on the page did not respond to a message from DTN.

Igorevich said he reached out to the contact to offer legal services to the Schrock family. The GoFundMe page and an email response he received back, Igorevich said, raised red flags.

"The photos used on the GoFundMe page are publicly available," he told DTN.

"The person who responded to me never provided a name, referring only to themselves as a 'family representative.' I was asked to transfer $15,000 to a Skrill account just to be considered for working with our law firm. Once I realized that someone was exploiting these tragic events to profit, I couldn't just sit back. I had to report it. It's truly unbelievable."

So, the person on the other end of emails sent to Igorevich not only claimed to represent the family but at one point told him the family had already spent $15,000 in an effort to try to secure the services of another law firm.

According to the Trunov, Ayvar and Partners' website, the firm specializes in helping the families of airplane crash victims among other issues.

Igorevich told the "family representative" his firm would reimburse the family for the $15,000.

He received this response: "So I have already informed the other family members and beneficiarys about this development and we jointly agree to give your firm all rights but for us to do that with no doubts," the GoFundMe contact responded to Igorevich, "we request you stand by your words and send that money to this Skrill email."

Igorevich told DTN he couldn't "simply stand by and ignore" the issue.

"As a criminal lawyer, my duty is to protect people and uphold their rights," he said.

"Seeing individuals take advantage of such a devastating tragedy for personal financial gain is not only a serious crime but also deeply inhumane. The fact that someone would exploit the suffering of others, especially in such a public and deceptive way, is beyond unacceptable."

The GoFundMe spokesperson said the company has safeguards in place to secure donations in cases where fundraisers are fraudulent.

"In this instance, any funds raised on the fundraiser were being safely held by our payment processors," the company said.

Read more on DTN: "Kansas Farmers Die in DC Plane Crash," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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