DANIELLE Easey's grieving mother has slammed the "poor excuses for humans" who posed as a family member and created a fundraising page in an attempt to gain donations following the Lake Macquarie woman's death.
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In a post shared widely on social media at the weekend, Ms Easey's mother Jennifer Collier said a fundraising page had been set up by an unknown person in the name of Ms Easey's father Colin Easey.
Following inquiries by the Newcastle Herald, the page was removed late on Sunday after reaching $55 of its $5000 fundraising target. It followed an earlier page set up on a rival fundraising website, which was also removed.
"I'd just like to let everyone know if they see a Go Fund Me page for Danielle made by her dad Col, do not donate please," Ms Collier wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday. "He did not write it, or nor did any other family member."
Ms Collier told the Herald on Sunday the developments were extremely distressing for the family.
"I know Colin is absolutely devastated at this," she said. "He's trying to grieve the loss of our daughter, as we all are, and these poor excuses for human beings are making things harder for us."
It comes just days after two people were charged in connection to the murder of Ms Easey.
The 29-year-old mother-of-two's body was found wrapped in plastic floating in Cockle Creek at Killingworth on August 31. Police allege Ms Easey was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the bedroom of a home at Reeves Street, Narara, on August 17, before later being dumped in the creek.
Justin Kent Dilosa, 33, and his former partner Carol Marie McHenry, 32, remain behind bars after facing separate courts on Friday charged in connection with the murder.
Mr Dilosa, who has denied any involvement in Ms Easey's death, has been charged with murder and did not apply for bail in Belmont Local Court on Friday.
Ms McHenry, 32, has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder and dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
Police allege she posed as Ms Easey online, after her death, and asked her mother for money. Her bail was refused in Toronto Local Court on Friday.
A Go Fund Me page in the name of Danielle Easey appeared to have been removed early on Sunday and had raised $15 of its $5000 target.
Another page, purported to be created by Colin Easey on fundraising platform Go Get Funding, had raised $55 before it was removed on Sunday evening.
GoFundMe Australia regional manager Nicola Britton said on Monday the page was removed "after failing to meet our trust and safety criteria".
"As ever with GoFundMe, we remain in full control of funds until we're confident they will get to the right place," Ms Britton said.
In a statement on Sunday night Go Get Funding said it was very common for "fake or copycat campaigns to be created by fraudsters" and the website has a number of measures in place to "minimise such campaigns".
"They will usually use campaigns that are highly emotive such as funerals and memorials or animal cruelty where donors may not be as guarded regarding donating as they may not even consider someone would be heartless enough to create such an account," it said.
"We have a number of measures in place to try to minimise such campaigns appearing on our site, but it is incredibly difficult to identify all fake campaigns. We are incredibly grateful for the immense support we get from our crowdfunding community and also the families and friends who are extremely vigilant and will notify us often within hours of a fake campaign appearing."
When asked if the donations would be returned, Go Get Funding said: "As we do not handle donations processed via our site - they are handled by the various payment processors who operate on our site - we cannot issue refunds".
They advised donors to either contact their bank and ask them to initiate a charge back or contact PayPal and initiate a dispute.
NSW Police was also contacted for comment.
