Blinded high school student in Tours: a fake online jackpot collects more than 6,000 euros before being closed

It was presented as an initiative of the mother of Maël, this 16-year-old high school student who lost one eye in Tours during the high school mobilization organized on September 30. An online prize pool, launched on Sunday October 4 and hosted on the crowdfunding platform Gofundme, was closed the next day by the platform. A decision dictated by the fraudulent nature of the collection.

Internet users posed as the teenager's mother in order to raise funds. “I am the mother of Maël, 16 years old, and today I am completely distraught. Every euro can help us. Each share counts enormously,” we could still read yesterday in the description on the Gofundme site. According to our colleagues from Ici Touraine, the prize pool, created by a person who claimed to be called Samira Benali, was misleading because it had no connection with Maël's family.

This prize pool would still have made it possible to collect a whopping 6,380 euros. However, all donations should be returned according to Gofundme's fraud policy. “This rarely happens, but in the event of a problem, we promise to refund you in full,” says the platform.

The link to the harvest had been widely shared on social networks. The actor Yvan Le Bolloc’h had, for example, called on X to support Maël and his family. The prize pool is no longer identifiable on the platform’s website; the formula “Print not found” is displayed by clicking on the link.

The tragedy occurred less than a week ago in Tours, during a blockade in front of a high school. According to the Indre-et-Loire prefecture, the young man was taken care of, while the police, who came with the firefighters to put out several fires, were met with projectiles. Videos of Maël, his face bloodied, circulated on social networks. Hospitalized, he lost the use of his right eye. His family filed a complaint for “violence by a person holding public authority”.