A veteran Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw has urged the public to exercise caution when contributing to online medical fundraisers. She shared her views on X (formerly Twitter) in response to a resurfaced tweet highlighting a fraudulent medical fundraiser. The post recounted how a woman, who had posted an emotional video seeking help for cancer treatment, suddenly became unresponsive after receiving donations.
The tweet stated, “This is such a terrible thing to do. No one knows who truly needs help. Remember the woman we raised funds for a while back, claiming to have cancer on her hand? She posted a heart-wrenching video, and many people were moved to help. Donations flooded in, and people sent screenshots. But when I asked her how much she had received, she said I was disturbing her and stopped replying to messages. I had to delete my post. It seemed like a scam too. It’s so wrong.”
In response, Henshaw stressed the importance of verifying medical cases before donating. She suggested that people should go the extra mile to confirm the authenticity of the situation, even recommending unannounced visits to hospitals to see things for themselves.
“When it comes to medical issues, please verify. If you can, visit the hospital unexpectedly to confirm things yourself. The human heart can be wicked! Imagine someone saying you’re disturbing them. Sick!” she wrote.
Another comment echoed disbelief, saying, “I can’t believe someone would fake an illness to scam people. Some people are truly criminally minded.”
Henshaw responded, “When sickness comes, they’ll blame it on ‘village people.’”
Story by Obaapa Jane
