Cyclist who claimed he was hurt by barbed wire charged with fraud, mischief

RCMP said Friday they received numerous tips from the public and from people that know Psaroudakis.

“As a result of all of the information that they provided us, we were able to determine that he had not hurt himself on the trail the way he claimed,” said RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters.

“We found out that he had actually been involved in a collision with a barbed wire fence, but he was riding an ATV on private property of a friend nearby and that’s how he got the injuries.

“It had nothing to do with the trail system or with mountain biking at all.”

Psaroudakis turned himself in Friday afternoon and was released pending a court appearance on Aug. 22.

Attempts to reach Psaroudakis were unsuccessful.

He has reportedly used GoFundMe in past fundraising campaigns, including for the Fort McMurray wildfire.

GoFundMe spokeswoman Rachel Hollis said Psaroudakis closed his campaign and all donors have been refunded. He’s been banned from any future fundraising.

“Campaigns with misuse are very rare, making up less than one tenth of one per cent of all campaigns,” she said in a statement.

“Along with a host of proactive measures to prevent misuse, we also have the ability to receive reports from users about potential fraudulent activity, as in this case.”

— By Lauren Krugel in Calgary

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier story used a nickname for Stelianos Psaroudakis

by Canadian Press

Cyclist who claimed he was hurt by barbed wire charged with fraud, mischief

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