A
fake Facebook page for a Republican movement which is asking for
donations has prompted a warning from a legitimate republican group.
Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand chair
Lewis Holden says the fake page has copied text and images from its
website to set up the page.
"The Foundation for the Republic of New Zealand"
page has 323 "likes" and even fooled some of the members of the
Republican Movement.
"One of my members brought it to my attention last night and said 'Have you heard of these guys?'" Mr Holden said.
He said it was likely others may have been fooled by the page and have donated money.
The page has since removed the bank account number and requests for donations, and has also changed contact details on its page.
It posted that it asked for donations "so that we
can help fund our website project, and to pay for our advertisements,
pamphlets, flags and other merchandise. We also have costs attributed to
running our meeting place."
That meeting place, The Foundation Hall, appears to be a residential address in the Christchurh suburb of Merivale.
The page earlier today listed Joshua Richard Lucas
as the chairman of the group and listed a KiwiBank account where people
can make donations.
Mr Holden said his group
was always on the lookout for other groups to partner with, but there
was no record of the Foundation on the incorporated societies register
on the Companies Office website.
Members of the Republican Movement had been asked to report the page and Mr Holden had emailed and called Mr Lucas.
If the page was not taken down today, Mr Holden would go to the police.
The fake page was a distraction the group didn't need, he said.
"We're
ramping up our campaign against the constitutional review, there's the
royal succession and royal baby too. It's a distraction we don't need.
It's quite damaging."
A tell-tale sign the group wasn't legitimate was it had its founding date as 1983.
"The Republican movement has been around since 1994. Before then there was no one interested in it."
The Republican Movement did ask the public for donations, but were open about where the money is spent.
"We're an incorporated society, so we're open about spending donations on pamphlets."
Mr Lucas did not answer his phone when 3 News called on several occasions.
3 News
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