There’s always one, isn’t there? Whilst the dance music world mourned the loss of Paul Johnson yesterday, someone posted a message on his Facebook fan page for a supposed fundraiser for a memorial fund.
Eyebrows were raised straight away owing it to being called the “Dj Paul Johnson Memorial Fund” – he never referred to himself as DJ Paul Johnson, nor did anyone who knew him. The only references to him in that manner tend to be in articles aimed at people whom may not be familiar with the man himself.
It was soon confirmed that it was a scam. His family said this had nothing to do with them, nor had anyone received permission to post this up or even hold such a fundraiser. But who would have done this?
Well, I managed to get onto the page before Venmo took it down. And I fear something very ugly is going on. The phone number being used for the “memorial fund” came from Texas. As I understand it, Johnson last visited Texas back in May when he had a few shows there.
Yet someone who fell for the scam – whom I understand has since been refunded – told me they got an email confirming it had been sent to Addison. And not Addison in Texas, but Addison in Illinois. Which is just 20 miles away from the centre of Chicago. This raises the distinctly ugly possibility of someone from within Johnson’s home city being responsible.
I could do with Nev Schulmann to help with this one, couldn’t I?
