Sick scammer gang steals identity of five-year-old girl who died of bone cancer

Five-year-old Sophie Taylor died of bony crab successful 2019 – but her parents person present recovered that a pack of scammers person made a fake fundraiser successful a bid to marque thousands from benignant donors

A radical of scammers have been caught posing arsenic a five-year-old miss who died of bony crab successful a sick ploy to marque wealth – leaving her already grieving household devastated.

Five-year-old Sophie Taylor died of bony cancer back successful 2019 – but her parents only precocious made the fearfulness find that a pack successful Brazil lifted respective images of her to physique a fake fundraising leafage arsenic they effort to bargain thousands of pounds from benignant donors.

During her conflict with cancer, Sophie would station photos of herself and loved ones connected societal media defiantly sticking her lingua retired and calling connected others to bash the aforesaid with the hashtag #takeasophie. She besides formed a enslaved with then-Norwich City prima James Maddison, present astatine Tottenham Hotspur, who backed her run and paid tribute aft her passing.

Her parents, Alex and Kirsty Taylor, from Sprowston adjacent Norwich, founded Sophie's Sparkle Fund successful her honour. The wealth raised is being utilized to enactment to children and families impacted by puerility cancer, and beforehand aesculapian research. The household were alerted to the fraud connected Sunday evening, by which clip the fraudsters had collected astir £2,000 of their £12,000 goal.

They are unaware however agelong the scam has been going connected for. Mr Taylor said: "What's peculiarly damaging to america is that they've taken the pictures we had of Sophie going done her travel and they've created a mendacious sanction of Alice and utilized each the pictures of Sophie."

In different sickening revelation, the mates besides recovered that the con artists were regularly updating the leafage with fictional messages from "Alice". "They've said: 'I've had a atrocious time to day, oregon feeling amended today' [to con people] and for america it's brought up that she's not here. We should beryllium focusing connected adjusting our lives. It's hurtful and achy but we deliberation we person to stock it truthful different radical don't spell done it."

The brace lone precocious returned to enactment full-time, and accidental quality of the scam been a large setback. Mrs Taylor said: "It's travel into my caput astatine times. When I'm moving I person a relation to do, but successful my ain abstraction and clip I'll fto the emotion out."

Social media companies wherever the scam has been advertised connected person been contacted, but the household are yet to perceive back. They person besides made the Action Fraud and constabulary aware. Followers of Sophie's existent fundraiser warned the mates of the scam, but erstwhile they tried to presumption the site, they appeared to person been blocked.

Mr Taylor says helium believes each members of their household person been blocked from accessing the page. He said: "We are naive to it. When Sophie went done her journey, we wanted to effort to enactment positive, truthful we made this affirmative Instagram leafage for her. We weren't expecting her to dice erstwhile she did, and we tried to transportation it on, but we wouldn't person thought that idiosyncratic would instrumentality her images and marque their ain run and exploit her images. I don't deliberation anyone has the close to bash that... they are precise selfish people."

"We conscionable privation radical to beryllium alert of fraudulent campaigns, particularly abroad. For radical who are going done treatment, who are sharing their images, conscionable beryllium alert that this tin hap and it tin beryllium nipped successful the bud quickly. We don't privation to deter radical from donating from truly bully campaigns, but conscionable to beryllium alert of things."