Woman Arrested For Crowdfunding Vet Bills For Dog That Was Already Dead

By Samantha in Bizarre On 20th January 2022
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Kanna Sudo, 26, from Japan is facing criminal charges for fundraising some $16,000 in medical bills for a dog that had already died. 

According to the news outlet Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japanese woman got arrested on January 13 and is facing charges for attempted fraud. The woman who is also unemployed confessed to the Nara prefectural police department this week that she put up an appeal for funds to recoup the medical fees for a dog that had already died.

Screengrab/ReadyFor
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According to Asahi News, Sudo's dog passed away in August but the woman made three updated posts on social media between October 29 and December 13 last year, asking for more donations and holding on to hope that her dog will fight his way through his illness.

Sudo also confessed that she did the scam to enough money to cover her dog's vet bills before it passed away. The fraud was only brought to light in January after an anonymous tipster alerted the local police, per the Mainichi Shimbun

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On the Readyfor crowdfunding page, Sudo put up a pleading note for her dog, a retriever called "Toi-kun."

On the page, Sudo claimed that Toi was suffering from a critical heart problem. She also posted images of the pup and scans of its medical reports. "Toi has a severe heart disease," Sudo wrote. "I don't want to give up because I don't have enough money." 

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"Of course, all the support we received during the rest of the recruitment period will be used for Toi's medical expenses. If the treatment costs listed above do not exceed the amount you have supported, we will use the remainder for future vet examinations and medicines for Toi," Sudo added in the crowdfunding post. 

The fundraiser offered people several donation tiers, with the lowest being 500 Japanese yen ($4.30) and the highest tier being 500,000 Japanese yen ($4,367). 

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Some 407 people donated money for Toi's medical expenses and helped raise an amount of 1,844,500 Japanese yen (or $16,112). However, the fundraiser has been canceled and is no longer accepting new donations. 

Readyfor said in response to a request for comment from Insider that all donors will be refunded. 

"Those who donated by bank transfer were refunded on December 27, 2021 by bank transfer," said a representative for the company, adding that those who made payments to Sudo via their credit cards will have these transactions canceled by their respective card companies. 

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