Boastful cancer patient falls foul of donors

A 29-year-old man surnamed Lan was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a malignant tumor affecting the immune system and whose cause is yet unknown. Adults aged 15 to 35 and those over 50 seem more vulnerable. Given progress in treatment, most patients can survive for a long time.

Lan solicited help from Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding, allegedly the largest medical crowdfundng platform in China, with the aim of raising 900,000 yuan (US$124,800) in donations.

Money started pouring in quickly. Just five days after he shared the news about raising funds in several WeChat groups (and apparently also raised money through them), some donors saw that Lan had posted a picture of his new home, accompanied by a message suggesting that within just a few days, he had already raised over 700,000 yuan.

Sensing foul play, several members in the WeChat groups told the platform Lan might have deliberately and grossly understated his family assets in his eagerness for donations.

The informers proved to be right.

In an official statement on November 7, the crowdfunding platform said Lan had deliberately concealed his family assets to the platform, multiple times, thus the 270,000 yuan of donations received so far would be returned to the donors. The platform would also put Lan on a list as a "dishonest person in crowdfunding" and made permanently ineligible for donations.

The sum Lan had raised through his alumni WeChat groups and others would also be returned.

Honesty is apparently the best policy for the likes of Lan who might be in need of financial help for the treatment of serious diseases, and this honesty is dictated by a basic respect for donors.

In the case of a patient seeking donations for treating a major disease, this would mean full disclosure of an objective assessment of the costs of treatment, and the seeker's financial circumstances.

That information would be critical to potential donors' decisions about the amount they would give, if they find it necessary to give at all.

After receiving tip-offs of possible foul play, the platform tried to confirm details with Lan, who denied any falsehoods in responding to the first two inquiries, but made an admission the third time in the face of overwhelming evidence.

The story afforded donors a cautionary tale about generosity in an era of social media.

Lan might have easily have got away with his trick if he had not been so flamboyant about his windfall.

In this sense, Lan's case was fairly isolated.

But maybe Lan was not so atypical in grossly understating his family circumstances while staking his claim to generosity.

It is no secret that one common trick to earn sympathy, and generosity, is to play up the donation seeker's wretchedness.

In a symbolic verdict by a court in Beijing in November 2019, a defendant surnamed Mo was found guilty of defaulting and ordered to return 150,000 yuan, and interest, to donors for concealing assets and misappropriating money for other uses.