Influencer faces backlash after using GoFundMe to raise $50k for dad scammed out of $20k - despite previous claims she earns six figures

24-year-old Natalie Sinead, 24, took to social media to explain to her 26,000 followers that her dad Martin had lost thousands of pounds to scammers who had mimicked a real clothing brand.

She then said that she had launched a GoFundMe page on his behalf and was hoping to raise $50,000 (around £40,000) - more than double the the $20,000 (around £15,000) the 64 year old had lost - so that he could retirement. She claimed her dad, who suffers from memory loss and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), could no longer afford to retire now he has lost the money.

But, her plan backfired as she soon received lots of negative comments from people who were questioning why she couldn’t give her dad the money herself, as she had previously used her channel to discuss how she earned a six figure sum from her content.

Sinead was quick to remove the comments but, as more were left in their place, she later felt compelled to explain and uploaded a follow-up video..

She said: “A lot of people are very angry at the fact that in the past I've said I'm a six figure content creator and people are saying ‘well, why don't you help him? This is your responsibility. He was the one that was silly and got scammed’.

She went on to say that it was “100 per cent true” that she had earned such a huge amount in the past, but she doesn’t have this huge amount of money anymore. “As it stands, I'm no longer a six figure content creator,” she said.

“I lost my TikTok account in August which meant I lost the majority of my income. I don't make a cent from social media anymore.” She added: 'I do not have $20,000 to give to my dad. Trust me, if I had the money, I would help my dad, help my mum, help my sisters, brothers, everyone.”

Sinead apparently lost her TikTok account overnight earlier this year after she posted multiple videos of her riding a scooter without a helmet, according to local media.

Her GoFundMe page, which is called Help My Dad Retire, has only raised $265 (around £208) at the time of writing (on the morning of Friday November 29).

Sinead also said in her follow-up video that a lot of the criticism she faced came from the fact she had hoped to raise over $30,000 (around £24,000) more than her father lost in the scam. “The reason why I did that is just because I feel bad for my dad,” she said.

She went on: “My dad has worked his entire life, he's 64. My grandad had dementia and that's how he passed on and I worry that my dad is showing early signs of dementia. He's not in a position (financially) where he can retire, but mentally and physically he is showing signs that he needs to retire.”

Her father told Daily Mail Australia that he came across the scam, which was disguised as a job on a website masquerading as a Japanese clothing brand while looking at TikTok.

He got in touch with who he thought were the employers, and was then duped into sending them a payment of $167 (around £132) in cryptocurrency for “VIP access” to higher pay rates. The payments he had to make rapidly then increased, however, and at the same time the scammers refused to pay him the promised returns.

By the time he realised he had been scammed he had already lost thousands of pounds. He warned anyone who comes across a deal that's “too good to be true” to always exercise caution and “do more research than I did” before investing any money.