WHEELING — Ohio County Sheriff Nelson Croft advises residents to be aware of fraudulent GoFundMe accounts posing as victims of the flash flooding on Saturday, June 14.

The sheriff’s department has been working with the West Virginia Fusion Center, a state intelligence agency that monitors major thefts, to investigate GoFundMe accounts created after the flood.

Ohio County Cpl. Matthew Ronick is working full-time with the Fusion Center to investigate fraudulent fundraising efforts in the aftermath of the flooding. Ronick and the Fusion Center have flagged at least 76 fundraisers they believe are suspicious, with approximately $206,933 raised through these GoFundMe accounts.

Croft outlined that there are two types of potential fraud occurring in the flagged accounts. The first is people fraudulently claiming to be flood victims. Croft said this type of fraud may “rise to the criminal level.”

“If they’re committing outright fraud, we’re going to prosecute them,” Croft said. “Most people don’t know the level of security and intelligence the state has, and I think if they did know that, they would not have made these accounts. If you were willing to fraudulently scam these folks with big hearts, we’re going to get you, and we’re going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Croft advises anyone who believes they’ve donated to a fraudulent account to contact the sheriff’s office so they can investigate. He noted that it may be challenging for those that have been scammed to recover their money.

“This will be a long prosecution process,” Croft said. “From my experience, restitution will be ordered, but the defendant coming up with the cash is a whole other matter than an order from the court.”

The second type of potential fraud involves individuals raising money for flood victims without a plan to distribute the funds properly. The sheriff’s office will ask them to shut down their accounts and donate money to the Ohio County Emergency Management Agency or other local nonprofits assisting in flood relief.

Croft noted that most flagged accounts fell into the second fraud category, as “misguided” in their fundraising efforts.

“We found that most of these flagged accounts are probably well-intentioned people who just have no real plan as to how they’re going to get that money from their account to the flood victims,” Croft said. “We will try to guide them in the right direction.”

Croft said he would “never donate” to a GoFundMe account and instead would donate directly to Ohio County EMA, as “every penny of that stays here.” He added that there are no handling fees when donating to the Ohio County EMA.

“I think a lot of flood victims are just trying to dig themselves out right now, and the last thing most people want is extra attention,” Croft said. “I would just never donate online to any of these places and advise people to donate directly to the Ohio County EMA, the local Red Cross or other local nonprofits. When you donate to the EMA, the money will get to the flood victims.

Every penny that comes into Ohio County will stay in Ohio County,” he said.

Croft added that if a flood victim has created an authentic GoFundMe account, they will still receive assistance from the county anyway.

“It’s not like we’re taking money away from these victims — we’re making sure it comes to them and not to someone else,” he said.