A couple from Pennsylvania, USA, faked the birth and death of a baby to con people into giving them money.
Geoffrey and Kaycee Lang claimed to have given birth to a baby boy on July 3, as per NBC-affiliate WPXI last Friday, Aug. 16.
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The couple had also thrown a baby shower prior to the supposed birth of the infant, as per police records.
Two months before her due date, the wife reportedly disappeared and claimed the baby had died due to a respiratory issue.
After the supposed death of the infant, the couple started a GoFundMe page to raise cash for the baby’s funeral expenses. The page has since been deleted.
Their ploy was discovered when their friend Cynthia DiLascio had gotten suspicious of the couple’s story. She called the funeral home where the baby was supposed to have been cremated, and asked about the Langs.
According to the report, the funeral home denied that neither the couple nor the baby had records with them.
She then reported the incident to the local police. The officers checked for records of the baby with the coroner’s office, the hospital and the OB-GYN. Yet, none of them had any documents stating the child was ever born.
Authorities found a lifelike baby doll and personalized urn with the name of the child engraved on it, after searching the Langs’ house. It was later discovered that the doll was used to pose as the supposed baby in photos the couple shared on social media.
GoFundMe released a statement saying, “This type of behavior is not tolerated on GoFundMe. We will fully cooperate with law enforcement officials during their investigation and we will issue full refunds to all donors.”
It added that they have a zero-tolerance policy for misuse of the platform. In line with this, all donors will be getting their money back. The fake campaign received a total of US$550 in donations.
The Langs were charged with fraud and theft by deception, as per report. Ryan Arcadio /ra
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