Chef says scammer used name to solicit money for hurricane relief on Facebook

Disasters bring out the best, and in this case, the worst in people.

Wilmington celebrity chef Keith Rhodes says someone used his name to solicit donations for hurricane relief by pretending to be him on Facebook was asking people to buy Amazon gift cards in order to help victims of Hurricane Florence.

Rhodes owns Catch in Wilmington and was on season nine of Bravo’s Top Chef.  

“We found out about the fake account through someone who was trying to donate and said they were solicited by someone who wanted Amazon gift cards and of course we don’t do anything like that,” Rhodes said. “There are a lot of folks coming out in our community who are preying on what’s happening right now.

Friday night, Rhodes’ food truck was at Cape Fear Christian Church in New Hanover County dishing out hot platters of teriyaki chicken to anyone in need of a hot meal. Rhodes is working with World Central Kitchen to bring hot meals to communities following Hurricane Florence.

“This is what we do is help out the community and you can rest assured that everything we’re doing, everybody is benefiting,” Rhodes said. “We are a community that is in transition right now and so we just feel obliged to get out and give folks meals that they need, hot meals. There are still areas in Wilmington that are without power and outside Wilmington so that’s when the food truck, it’s something that we have that we can take it to them.”

For tips on how to avoid scammers and how to report them, check out the FEMA website.

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