Social media influencer GloJays is known for giving wads of cash to strangers. Yet one woman says it’s all for clout. Zipporia Tullis, a homeless woman living in Georgia, says he set up a GoFundMe page and raised over $20,000 on behalf of her and her five children.
But he decided not to give her the money. However, in a TSR Investigates exclusive GloJays claims he gave Tullis $3,500 of the money but refused to hand over the rest of the funds after she turned down employment assistance and bashed him online.
So, does GloJays owe Zipporia the money no matter what? Should Zipporia be happy with the $3,500? The Shade Room investigates…
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The story begins back in June, when Zipporia was panhandling for money at a Union City, Georgia Walmart. That day, she was approached by a man who gave her $500.
That man ended up being social media influencer GloJays, and Zipporia says this was the beginning of an elaborate scam.
Behind the scenes of their seemingly feel-good scene, which was filmed by GloJay’s team, she says she was told to look “sad.” Zipporia can be seen telling him of her story, how she was kicked out of her housing situation in 2020, how her father had passed last year from COVID-19…
“My father was really all I had. I’m just trying to get back on my feet,” she told him in the video clip.
The moment GloJays starts peeling off dollar bills to give her, she can be heard saying “this is a scam.”
“This ain’t no scam, this is all you,” he said as he handed her the cash.
The video of the scene is amongst dozens on GloJays social media pages, where he boasts two million followers on TikTok and over 400,000 on Instagram, all within the last seven months.
Zipporia’s clip alone was seen by over 13 million people.
But the feel-good story didn’t end there. She later learned he had set up a GoFundMe on her behalf, with the funds to be used for housing, clothing and food for her children, and expenses towards a vehicle according to the fundraiser’s description.
The fundraiser raised over $20,000, with the funds going “directly to her when the fundraiser is over,” the organizer wrote.
“Everything on that (GoFundMe) page was linked to him, it was never linked to me,” she told TSR Investigates Justin Carter.
She said she did receive about $3,500, most of which went towards hotel rooms for her and her children, with the room costing her about $100 per night. She added that she had already owed the hotel about $500, so she got almost a month’s worth of stay at the hotel from the funds GloJays provided her.
Zipporia said he eventually asked her for a picture of her ID card to send her the rest of the GoFundMe donations, however days went by and she did not receive another penny. Relations between the two quickly began to sour.
“He never really wanted to give me the money,” she said. “(He) took it.”
For his part, GloJays told TSR Investigates that he would never just pull up on someone and give them $20,000 without stipulations.
“You have to be doing something,” he said. “Working or something. No one has pulled up on you and gave you $3,500 like I have, no other stranger did that. Regardless of if they raised if for you, gave it to you. No one has gave you the amount that I have.”
GloJays added that he also approached Zipporia about several job and housing opportunities, just days after posting the video. He says she stopped responding to people and that she wasn’t interested in the help.
When asked if he believed she was a professional panhandler, he responded in the affirmative. TSR Investigates questioned Zipporia on claims that she’s not really homeless, to which she said she’s living out of a hotel, and if she doesn’t have money, she gets put out on the streets.
She went on to say that she cannot work unless there is childcare, that she cannot go to work and leave her five children unattended.
Reactions online were mixed, with some coming to Zipporia’s defense and other’s to GloJays.
GloJays said that in every other case, he has provided 100 percent of the funds to the person in question, sometimes more. He said he canceled the campaign after she began bashing him online, and took it as a personal affront that he would finesse someone for just $20,000.
When asked where he gets his money from, which is then ostensibly used to help people, he said he has done really well in trading, making about $400,000 on Netflix stock “when it started to plummet.”
He added that he has no intention of giving Zipporia any more money, and has no plans on offering an apology, either.
“She can take it to court, I don’t care,” he said. “Do your thing.”
A quick investigation into GoFundMe’s policies shows that all funds raised must be used in relation to the fundraiser’s description or goals, and that if a page is created on behalf of someone else, that person should receive all of the funds raised.
There is an option for donors to request a full refund, no questions asked.
TSR Investigates explores cold cases and special interest news stories underrepresented in mainstream media.
