Fraudster steals SoCal fire victim's video of burning home to scam GoFundMe donors

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A victim of the Palisades Fire is warning the public after a fraudster stole video of her home burning down and used it to scam GoFundMe donors.

The victim, who asked to remain anonymous, says family alerted her that a scammer had been using her Ring video. The footage shows flames from the Palisades Fire destroying her home.

She realized that a man, who was going by the name of Justine Payne, had been using the footage to raise funds on a GoFundMe page.

The scammer claimed he lost his home in the fires and was apparently using the Ring video to deceive potential donors. That GoFundMe has since been taken down.

"As it stands there are so many causes and so many individuals who need support right now," the victim told Eyewitness News. "So, to not only be perpetuating something that's not accurate but then to be using it to funnel those funds away from causes that need them for your personal profit is just disgusting."

"We just want to make sure that people are aware that this happens, and they need to be really discerning about which causes they support," the victim added.

She's now sharing a GoFundMe account for her daughter's school, Methodist Preschool, which burned down in the Palisades Fire.