Fundraising page for missing WSJ reporter is a fraud

A fraudster created a fund-raising page to help find missing Wall Street Journal reporter David Bird but likely planned to pocket the cash, reports Sasha Goldstein of the New York Daily News.

Goldstein writes, “Little has been revealed publicly about the search for Bird, 55, who left his Long Hill, N.J. home for an afternoon stroll Jan. 11 and never came back.

“Bird, who covers energy markets for the Journal, had just finished putting away Christmas decorations with his wife before going for the 4:30 p.m. walk and did not bring his phone.

“Long Hill cops confirmed with the man’s family that the bogus page ‘is an unauthorized solicitation and the creator of this link has been messaged to remove it immediately,’ the department wrote on its Facebook page.

“Only one person has contributed just a measly dollar and wrote, ‘This is a scam: don’t contribute!’

“The page, titled ‘Help Find David Bird’ and created by someone named Wang Manci of the nonexistent Haerbin, China, contains broken English and a description that appears to be an amalgamation of local news stories written about Bird’s disappearance.”