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£20k crowdfund appeal

MtB

By MtB
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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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Posted (edited)

20k Crowdfund...

 

I'll prolly get lynched for this but here goes anyway...

 

This has all been blowing up on London Boater’s FB group for the last week, but unfortunately due to the way it is pressing everyone’s buttons the mods keep deleting the posts about it.

 

One Mr Copal Daselva (Or Mr Gopal Das, we're not sure) unfortunately found his small GRP boat sunk about a week ago when he returned to it one morning. Presented without comment, the boat picture prior to sinking:

11054274_10153936752843378_8366468938085

 

Apparently this is his home and contained all of his possessions, but other members of London Boaters posted that they had passed it the day before and it was totally empty, and not even fitted out.

 

Subsequently Mr Copal/Gopal set up a crowdfunder-like on a site called YouGive; this is not quite crowdfunding in the traditional sense, as it does not require the full amount of the ask to be raised before funds are released, and the funder is not expected to provide anything of value to everyone who donates, which is just as well as Mr Copal/Gopal is offering donaters free tarot readings to those who donate £100+…

http://www.youcaring.com/copal-daselva-415452

 

The name used on the crowdfunder seems to be subtly different to the published IRL details of the person…

 

Despite the obvious questions about how come the boat sank (not known) and what about your insurance (“third party only") many London Boaters donated significant amounts of money to help Mr Gopal/Copal, totalling over 2k within just a couple of days. Lots of people also offered him accom and practical help too.

 

But hang on, the crowdfund is asking for 20k…. Check the picture of the boat again prior to sinking. Now I know I don't have both paddles in the water but there is no way that pictured boat is worth even 2k in my book

 

When called to explain the ask for the 20k and the disparity between that and that shonky little GRP, Mr Gopal/Copal said that it was not just to cover the cost of repairing the damage from the boat sinking, but also to fit the boat out with things like system water and heating, cooking facilities, basically a full fit out that he didn’t have in it in the first place, and “pay for other essentials that most people take for granted.”

 

This, despite the fact that the crowdfund asks specifically for money due to the sinking, with no mention of the fact that Mr Gopal/Copal never actually had any of these things to start with, despite claiming to have been working on the boat for two years.

 

Things then got messy on London Boaters, as people started calling Mr Gopal/Copal out on this, some of whom had already shelled out donations before realising that the figure being requested in no way tallied with even the top end value of what was lost.

 

Mr Gopal/Copal continued to defend his actions, saying that he felt that Crowdfunder made it clear that the money was not just to cover what he lost, but also to buy these new things: Also that the Crowdfunder was not his idea but that of some of his loving friends, even though he also stated elsewhere that he was up all night wording it. Read it and judge for yourself!

 

Even so, is there anyone here who thinks that even raising, fixing and fitting out that GRP state would cost anywhere near 20k? You can buy a perfectly decent, fitted out, larger steel boat for less than that, ffs!

 

It gets even better. Somehow, Copal/Gopal managed to get Piers Morgan to Tweet the appeal to his 4.5 million followers: https://mobile.twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/635855482813550592 which likely went a long way towards the recent big spike in the crowdfund total, which now stands at over 5k.

 

The boat has since been raised by RCR (again no mention of this in the Crowdfunder or later appeals).

 

What does the team think to this? Obviously anyone is free to ask for money for anything from anyone they want, and anyone who wants to is free to give; but this looks to me like a clear case of playing on people’s good natures to walk away with a hefty profit.

 

This sort of stuff makes me very cross. Or have I misinterpreted?

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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Starcoaster Veteran

Starcoaster

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Posted (edited)

I am one of those who called him out on this on LB when it first came up... My own personal opinion (and not that of CWDF or anyone else, for legal purposes!) is that the guy is a con artist, and I told him so plainly as well.

Edited by Starcoaster
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churchward Veteran II

churchward

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I feel sorry for and would want to help anyone who had hit rock bottom and needed a helping hand to get back on their feet.

 

However, I must confess I find the nature of crowd funding for this kind of thing worrying and open to a huge amount of abuse by the unscrupulous. There seems little to protect people from getting ripped off and wasting their money.

 

I can think of better ways to help people if you have some spare cash to donate.

Edited by churchward
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Posted

Hmm. Where the picture of the boat should be I just get the words

INSERT PICTURE OF FLOATING BOAT

(on the BlackBerry).

I did initially on my iPad but it now displays fine.

 

Try reloading the page.

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Bettie Boo Experienced

Bettie Boo

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Posted

I remember seeing that boat somewhere on our travels this past few months, and it was indeed not fitted out inside.

 

Sounds like a sham to me Mike, and yes I agree; things like this do wind me up as well. There are well deserving folks out there who really do need a helping hand to get a roof over their heads or food on the table, and the dishonest acts of people like this guy take away from the truly needy.

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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I fully agree Mike. It may seem callous but my response to this type of request is simple - I would like to help but unfortunately I've spent the money I would have given on my boat insurance.

 

 

Lol, you selfish bustud!!

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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Yup. OK with me now. I see Mike has edited the page, so he must have been leaving instructions for himself.

 

And yes, it looks very much like a Grade A1 scam.

 

 

I was...!

And here is the boat in it's sunken condition...

 

11891266_10154182551828378_4747416912983

The thing that fascinates me most is how this guy manages to be SO GOOD at working up sympathy and translating it into sheer piles of cash.

How does one counter it, other than by starting threads like his?

He's even sponging a mooring off that orange bubble monstrosity behind it!

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robert anthony Collaborator

robert anthony

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Posted

Reading the link, it has taken him 2 years of hard work to get his "home" to its pre sunken state. Really? Never mind donate £100 of your hard earned and he'll paint a feather on the boat for you rolleyes.gif

If he was asking 2k it might be believable, but 20k is just taking the mick. He is just a chancer and a con artist but unfortunately people will get sucked in and he'll be smiling all the way to the bank.

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churchward Veteran II

churchward

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Posted (edited)

 

 

I was...!

And here is the boat in it's sunken condition...

 

The thing that fascinates me most is how this guy manages to be SO GOOD at working up sympathy and translating it into sheer piles of cash.

How does one counter it, other than by starting threads like his?

He's even sponging a mooring off that orange bubble monstrosity behind it!

The benefit and the trouble is with the internet/facebook/twitter and crowd funding is that you reach a large number of people so only a smallish percentage of people need give a few pounds each and hey presto you have a bunch of cash. Despite what can be the impression these days there are a great deal of good people out there who are willing to give to other folk in trouble. But as I said above this crowd funding is far too open to con artists and chancers who have no conscience in taking generous donations from these good people. Thus depriving the genuine folk who need our help of some needed financial or other assistance.

Edited by churchward
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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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The benefit and the trouble is with the internet/facebook/twitter and crowd funding is that you reach a large number of people so only a smallish percentage of people need give a few pounds each and hey presto you have a bunch of cash. Despite what can be the impression these days there are a great deal of good people out there who are willing to give to other folk in trouble. But as I said above this crowd funding is far too open to con artists and chancers who have no conscience in taking generous donations from these good people. Thus depriving the genuine folk who need our help of some needed financial or other assistance.

 

 

You're bang on the money.

 

In a while crowd funding will be so badly discredited by shitbags like him that no-one will give to any project no matter how worthwhile.

 

The big question I'm asking is how can people like him be exposed and stopped?

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