A Fresno family contacted CBS47 and said someone was using a picture of their late mother to raise money for a funeral. The problem is, the funeral was held almost a month ago and was paid off a long time ago.
Kathy Sandoval is now on a mission to stop scam artists from using her late mother’s picture to collect donations.
She learned about the scam when she was asked to make a donation outside a local grocery store and it was her mother on the sign. Sandoval said, “I can't describe to anybody that feeling of seeing my mom’s picture. It’s like them using her.”
Kathy thinks they got the picture from a flyer she made for a car wash to help pay for her mom's funeral. That funeral was paid for a long time ago. Sandoval said, “I struggled to do it and these people are doing it for their own needs. They don't need the money and they're using my mother.”
Police say it is a crime to take money and under false pretences.
Jeff Cardinale with the Fresno Police Department said, “You can solicit money for just about anything but you have to be able to show an end result and an end result in this case could simply be just buying flowers…”
Meanwhile, Sandoval says she has not received any money from those collecting while using her mother’s photo.
