{"id":70654,"date":"2026-08-12T23:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/70654\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T23:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:52:09","slug":"van-viet-truong-family-rejects-13k-gofundme-after-bashing-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/70654\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Viet Truong family rejects $13k GoFundMe after bashing death"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who organised an online fundraiser for the family of a shopkeeper who was bashed to death in Melbourne\u2019s west is issuing refunds after confirming it was created without permission. <\/p>\n

Van Viet Truong, 60, was at his grocery shop in Sunshine about 2pm on August 2 when a group of youths, aged 12, 13, 14 and 15, fled a store with stolen goods.<\/p>\n

Mr Truong confronted the group \u2013 who were scuffling with another shop owner over the stolen goods \u2013 and was struck over the head several times.<\/p>\n

He was taken to hospital with critical injuries and died on August 5. <\/p>\n

Three boys \u2013 aged 12, 13 and 15 \u2013 and two 14-year-old girls were each charged with affray, violent disorder, intentionally cause serious injury and intentionally cause injury.<\/p>\n

The 15-year-old boy later had his charges upgraded to manslaughter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile charges laid against a 13-year-old boy were withdrawn.<\/p>\n

Following Mr Truong\u2019s death, an online fundraiser was launched to raise funds for the family as they grieved the loss of the beloved shopkeeper. <\/p>\n

The fundraiser had raised a little more than $13,000 when Mr Truong\u2019s family confirmed they had nothing to with it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are sincerely grateful for the support, concern and kindness people have shown towards their family during this incredibly difficult time,\u201d the statement read. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, they are asking people to be cautious and not allow their generosity to be taken advantage of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family asked for privacy as they continued to grieve and encouraged the public to avoid sending money. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe family\u2019s message is clear: they are not asking for donations,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Following the family\u2019s statement, the GoFundMe organiser stopped incoming donations and confirmed he would be issuing refunds. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have been in contact with Van Truong\u2019s family, and after careful discussion, I have decided to close this campaign and issue full refunds to all donors,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe family has expressed that they do not wish to receive these funds, and I am respecting their wishes as they navigate their grief and privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Refunds would be issued to those who donated to the fundraiser within the next week, the organiser said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely apologise for any confusion this may have caused,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThank you again for your compassion and for wanting to support Van\u2019s family.\u201d <\/p>\n

A GoFundMe spokesperson told NewsWire it was \u201cnot uncommon for compassionate Australians to launch fundraisers on behalf of others, often as an act of kindness, during times of crisis or distress\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll donations are safely held by our payment processors until the GoFundMe Trust Safety team is able to complete our standard checks to ensure that funds can be transferred safely to the intended beneficiary,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn cases where the family does not wish to receive the donations, GoFundMe will proactively refund all donors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who organised an online fundraiser for the family of a shopkeeper who was bashed to death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51147,39801,40816,76178,39371,96886,38072,5859,37005,44367,74929,79348,47016,50585,82723,96884,36507,53710,37420,96877,96892,58324,46490,65202,96864,96870,43764,94659,82742,96868,22,83366,85480,21,37617,96883,44474,8005,96872,96875,38242,96867,28619,2717,13627,3052,87298,96869,63711,48271,3085,82716,82715,39,96890,96871,28744,41506,96878,260,43646,8937,62029,82722,8147,379,96866,96894,7350,48920,33000,1104,41928,96891,96873,96885,40282,96881,63716,36700,83457,45781,96865,36541,37172,96880,77136,39278,37118,96882,36522,54332,37634,39611,96888,96874,96481,96876,96889,63047,82743,41481,96879,96893,96863,96887,81160,71916,96895,19066],"class_list":["post-70654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-the-loss","tag-s-death","tag-s-family","tag-s-message","tag-s-statement","tag-s-urgent-message","tag-s-west","tag-5859","tag-37005","tag-44367","tag-13-and-15","tag-14-and-15","tag-2pm","tag-50585","tag-a-13-year-old-boy","tag-a-gofundme-spokesperson","tag-a-group","tag-a-little","tag-a-man","tag-a-neighbouring-shop","tag-a-shopkeeper","tag-a-store","tag-advantage","tag-affray","tag-all-donations","tag-all-donors","tag-an-act","tag-an-online-fundraiser","tag-another-shop-owner","tag-any-confusion","tag-au","tag-august-2","tag-august-5","tag-austrlia","tag-behalf","tag-careful-discussion","tag-cases","tag-charges","tag-compassionate-australians","tag-concern-and-kindness-people","tag-contact","tag-crisis-or-distress","tag-critical-injuries","tag-death","tag-donations","tag-family","tag-full-refunds","tag-fundraiser","tag-fundraisers","tag-funds","tag-gofundme","tag-his-charges","tag-his-grocery-shop","tag-hospital","tag-incoming-donations","tag-injury-the-15-year-old-boy","tag-kids","tag-kindness","tag-manslaughter-meanwhile","tag-melbourne","tag-message","tag-money","tag-more-than-13","tag-mr-truong","tag-newswire","tag-newswire-news","tag-our-payment-processors","tag-our-standard-checks","tag-people","tag-permission","tag-privacy","tag-refunds","tag-serious-injury","tag-several-times-he","tag-slain-shopkeeper","tag-stolen-goods-mr-truong","tag-sunshine","tag-the-beloved-shopkeeper","tag-the-donations","tag-the-family","tag-the-fundraiser","tag-the-gofundme-organiser","tag-the-gofundme-trust-safety-team","tag-the-group","tag-the-head","tag-the-intended-beneficiary","tag-the-next-week","tag-the-organiser","tag-the-public","tag-the-shopkeeper","tag-the-statement","tag-the-stolen-goods","tag-the-support","tag-their-family","tag-their-generosity","tag-their-grief-and-privacy","tag-their-wishes","tag-these-funds","tag-this-campaign","tag-this-incredibly-difficult-time","tag-three-boys","tag-times","tag-two-14-year-old-girls","tag-unauthorised-fundraiser","tag-van","tag-van-truong","tag-van-viet-truong","tag-violent-disorder","tag-your-compassion","tag-youths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}