Stelianos Psaroudakis, sporting a zipper. Real or fake? Photo: CBC
It seems that in today’s world, we ask to be funded for pretty much everything. Some of that funding is a good thing, like say, to pay catastrophic medical expenses or even college tuition for someone in need. But sometimes, all the handouts get a little over the top. And that’s when officials at crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe have to step in.
Such was the case with Stelianos Psaroudakis, a Calgary, Alberta man who claimed to be nearly beheaded recently by a wire while riding his mountain bike. Psaroudakis said on the GoFundMe account that he was riding downhill in the West Bragg Creek Provincial Recreation Area when a wire strung across a trail cut into his throat, throwing him off his bike. According to him, the crash caused him to hit his head on a rock and he lacerated his liver. A friend apparently helped him out of the backcountry, where he left his bike. He then claimed the bike was nowhere to be found the next day when he returned.
He was seeking $8,000 in the campaign to pay for a new bike and medical expenses. Then he got called out on his page with complaints as the local mountain biking community revolted. You see, this isn’t the first time Mr. Psaroudakis has set up a crowdfunding campaign. The last one came in June when, get this, he created a page for his lost Chihuahua that had been taken into doggy custody by the city of Calgary. Before that it was a campaign for furniture for families in need and another last year for a page looking to help wildfire victims in Alberta (which was then closed). This guy’s on a roll.
Psaroudakis shut down the mountain biking campaign himself after it raised some $800 bucks. And GoFundMe told the CBC it has withheld the funds upon further investigation. And why wouldn’t you call homeboy out? Check out this pic he used, below, with one eye hanging suspiciously open like a kid trying to fake being a sleep at bedtime. Nice one.
A screenshot of the cancelled campaign
I reached out to GoFundMe for a comment but my efforts weren’t immediately rewarded on this Friday.
Crowdfunding is one of the marvels of the modern world. It has literally helped thousands of people survive serious ailments or achieve lifelong dreams. But in a very few cases, campaigns turn out to be a complete crock of shit.
