A viral video of a homeless man receiving $100 and spending it on other homeless persons is being called a hoax by an eyewitness.
Days before Christmas, YouTube star Josh Paler Lin recorded himself giving a homeless man named Thomas $100, then "secretly" following him to see how he would spend the money. However, a witness claims the entire video was staged.
Lin is famous for his prank videos on the social media site, but purported that the video of Thomas was real.
"There is no way we're making this up," Lin told Vocativ on Friday. "This is real. They don't know Thomas. They don't know his whole story."
In the video, Lin gives a panhandling Thomas a $100 bill, and then follows him from a distance. Thomas walked into Euclid Liquor Mart, but emerged with food instead of alcohol. After watching Thomas distribute the food to other homeless persons, Lin went up to Thomas to reveal he had been trailing him with a camera, and told him he was so moved he wanted to give him another $100.
Taugan Tan Kadalim of Anaheim said that Thomas may really be homeless, but the whole story was set up in advance. "He drove Thomas to the liquor store," Kadalim said. "I'm not frustrated because he's helping a homeless man and people love this video," he continued. "I'm frustrated because it's dishonest and exploitive."
Kadalim reported seeing Lin, a cameraman, and Thomas sitting in the same car outside of Euclid Liquor Mart. He said that Lin went in first and talked to the cashier, then returned to the car. Next, Thomas walked in.
"The homeless guy was in Josh's car," Kadalim reported on Lin's YouTube channel. "They drove him there. They didn't 'follow' him."
CBS Los Angeles reported that Thomas would have had to walk for at least 34 minutes from where he was panhandling to the Liquor Mart, and would have passed other convenience stores along the way.
The viral video has received over 28 million views, and it is estimated that Lin made $52,000 after monetising the footage. An Indiegogo account was created by Lin with the stated goal of helping Thomas, and over $130,000 has been donated. Lin maintains that all funds will go to Thomas.
