"I feel shaken": Scammers target woman trying to raise money to buy herself a wheelchair
Lucy Gatward was directly targeted by scammers who saw her GoFundMe
A woman who is fundraising to buy a powered wheelchair has been directly targeted by scammers pretending to be a mobility aid company.
“I am heartbroken and really really angry,” said Lucy Gatward, 34. “It’s disgusting they are targeting the most vulnerable parts of society.”
Someone pretending to be the company Lifestyle & Mobility reached out to Lucy directly and offered her a substantial discount on a wheelchair she desperately needs, after Covid-related POTS (dysautonomia) and small fibre dysfunction has left her with severe pain and significant mobility issues.
“They contacted me directly through TikTok, where I have been advertising my fundraising campaign,” said Lucy, who grew up in Emsworth and lives in Botley. “They would’ve seen my GoFundMe.”
The scammers told Lucy they could sell her the chair she needed at a reduced price of £2,500, if she could secure the fund within 14 days.
“On Friday I thought I had raised enough money for the deposit for the chair,” she said. She messaged the company to make the purchase and they replied with bank details for her to send the money to.
“I noticed it was a personal account and thought ‘that doesn’t seem normal’, you would think it would be a business or charity account,” Lucy said. She messaged the number she had been communicating with to ask about this, and they phoned her immediately to explain that for some reason, their charity needed to use an overseas personal account to complete the payment.
Seeing red flags, Lucy rang her local branch of Lifestyle & Mobility to verify that this was a legitimate request.
“I phoned the store that was on the initial invoice, in Basildon, and they said ‘we have not heard of this, phone head office’,” she said. “I did, and the head office said ‘This is absolutely not us’”.
The company offered to investigate the matter fully but Lucy said: “Apparently they have had similar issues before, these social media accounts keep popping up.”
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The real Lifestyle & Mobility “have been absolutely amazing” and have offered Lucy a new price for the wheelchair she needs.
“They have offered me a deal to get the chair for £3,000 and the back rest for £250, which is an amazing deal.”
She has already raised £1,400 of that through her GoFundMe, and is hoping to raise the rest.
Lucy thinks that scammers like these are part of a wider issue about access to powered wheelchairs for people who have some, although very limited, ability to walk.
“People don’t understand that you can't get a powered wheelchair if you are ambulatory on the NHS,” she said, leaving people who are in desperate need open to scammers.
“Because of my fatigue I cannot self-propel a manual wheelchair, I have to use an electric one. However, because I can stand up and walk a few steps I am not eligible for a power chair on the NHS. It leaves me with no mobility aids on the NHS, I have to purchase them myself.
“I am going to submit a Parliament petition with my local MP, Paul Holmes, to change this, and hopefully we can get it discussed in Parliament. He has written to the Minister of Health and Social Care, Yvette Cooper, too.”
“I am now going to be questioning everyone who contacts me through social media,” said Lucy.
You can find and support Lucy’s GoFundMe here.