An Aussie influencer who has boasted about earning six figures in the past has launched a fundraiser hoping to raise $50,000 for her father after he was scammed out of $20,000.
Natalie Sinead, 24, revealed the shocking amount her 64-year-old father, Martin, had lost to the frauds mimicking a real clothing brand on Friday.
The content creator and ‘storytelling specialist’ told her 26,000 followers she had launched a GoFundMe page, seeking to raise $50,000 – more than double the amount her father lost – to help set him up for retirement.
But her social media pages were subsequently flooded with dozens of critical comments from people questioning why she couldn’t help her father out, given she has boasted about raking in six figures from her content creation.
Ms Sinead, who has since removed the comments, was later forced to respond to the deluge of criticism.
‘A lot of people are very angry at the fact that in the past I’ve said I’m a six figure content creator and people are saying: “Well, why don’t you help him? This is your responsibility. He was the one that was silly and got scammed”,” she said in a video recorded in her car.
Ms Sinead went on to explain that, while her six-figure pulling power was ‘100 per cent true’ in the past, she was no longer in such a strong financial position.
‘As it stands, I’m no longer a six figure content creator,’ she admitted.
Aussie influencer Natalie Sinead has launched a GoFundMe for her father, Martin’s (both pictured) retirement fund after he was scammed out of more than $20,000 in under a month
But her social media pages were subsequently flooded with dozens of critical comments from people questioning why she couldn’t help her father out, given she has boasted about raking in six figures from her content creation (pictured)
‘I lost my TikTok account in August which meant I lost the majority of my income. I don’t make a cent from social media anymore.’
She added: ‘I do not have $20,000 to give to my dad. Trust me, if I had the money, I would help my dad, help my mum, help my sisters, brothers, everyone.’
Her GoFundMe page, which is seeking to hit $50,000, has so far raised $230.
Ms Sinead said a lot of the criticism was driven by the fact she was seeking to raise over $30,000 more than her father lost in the scam.
‘The reason why I did that is just because I feel bad for my dad,’ she explained.
‘My dad has worked his entire life, he’s 64. My grandad had dementia and that’s how he passed on and I worry that my dad is showing early signs of dementia.’
She revealed his mortgage was not paid off but he was struggling to work.
‘He’s not in a position (financially) where he can retire, but mentally and physically he is showing signs that he needs to retire,’ she added.
Having spent years on social media building up an audience of tens of thousands of followers, Natalie wished her dad had told her about the job before he was sucked in
Her father told Daily Mail Australia that he was looking for a new revenue stream to keep up with increasing mortgage payments after his declining memory cost him his job in IT.
He came across the scam, disguised as a paid role generating pop-up windows on a website masquerading as a Japanese clothing brand, scrolling through TikTok in late October.
After making contact with one of the fraudsters, he was swept up by the simple job and was duped into sending them a payment of $167 in cryptocurrency for ‘VIP access’ to higher pay rates.
While it initially seemed worth the investment, the payments he had to make rapidly increased while the scammer started to ‘move the goalposts’ and refused to pay him his promised returns.
By the time he eventually realised he had been duped on Thursday, he had already lost more than $20,000 of his retirement savings and is now facing financial turmoil.
Natalie said she was ‘mortified’ after he revealed to her just how much he had lost in under a month.
The influencer told Daily Mail Australia she wished she could have helped her dad before he was drawn into the scam, but has started a GoFundMe to help him recoup some of his losses.
‘I was also horrified knowing that this money had come out of my dad’s retirement fund because he doesn’t have much,’ she said.
‘It saddens me because I’d love to see him retire.’
Having spent years on social media building up an audience of tens of thousands of followers, Natalie wished her dad had told her about the job before he was sucked in.
‘I wish that he’d come to me first because it turns out a simple Instagram or Google search could have potentially stopped this,’ she said.
‘I think that’s why this scam is so risky because they’re preying on people that don’t that, they’re not in the loop of social media.’
Mr Sinead agreed, revealing the sinister ways they made the job feel real to those who are not as savvy to online scams.
Among their duplicitous techniques was adding Mr Sinead to a WhatsApp group filled with people supposedly doing the same job who would often brag about their earnings.
The company also used the same name as a popular Japanese clothing brand which lent it credibility.
While Mr Sinead only lost $20,000 from the scam, his daughter is hoping to hit a goal of $50,000 through the fundraising effort so he can retire more comfortably.
‘I fear for my dad’s future as he does not have enough money to retire with his mortgage, so losing the additional $20k is heartbreaking,’ she wrote.
While his reduced memory has meant he can’t work the same jobs that he used to, Mr Sinead also suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – commonly known as emphysema.
It means he struggles to travel longer distances for work or be employed in physically demanding roles, severely limiting his ability to make back the money he lost on his own.
The dad warned anyone who comes across a deal that’s ‘too good to be true’ to always exercise caution and ‘do more research than I did’ before investing any money.
