'Do Not Give Your Money': Claimed Relative Questions GoFundMe After Hassan Kariem's Six Flags Death

A woman claiming to be related to Hassan Kariem has urged people not to donate to a GoFundMe set up after the 42-year-old died following an incident on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia in Georgia on Monday, 12 October.

The warning, posted on Threads on Wednesday, came as police continue to investigate how Kariem was ejected from the ride.

Kariem was identified by the Cobb County Police Department on Tuesday, 13 October. Officers said preliminary information from witness and employee interviews indicated that he was ejected from the ride, struck other patrons and fell beneath the attraction, where he was found unresponsive and not breathing.

Hassan Kariem GoFundMe Warning

The Threads user, posting under the handle @chefindia, wrote: 'People making fake gofunds me is wild. Do not give your money.' In a follow-up post, she asked people to pray for her family, including Kariem's mother, whom she described as her aunt, and her only sister.

The fundraiser in question lists Alliya Cox as its organiser and seeks $8,000. Its description says the money would cover Kariem's 'funeral expenses, including the casket and burial costs', as well as therapy costs for his family.

At the time of writing, the page had not received any donations. GoFundMe has not publicly commented on the page, and neither Cox nor the platform has confirmed whether the fundraiser is connected to Kariem's relatives.

It is a grimly familiar pattern. When a death attracts national attention, fundraising pages can appear quickly, sometimes before relatives have even been contacted. In this case, the apparent family intervention was blunt and immediate: do not send money.

What Police Say Happened

The incident occurred shortly before 4pm local time on Monday at Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, west of Atlanta. The Cobb County Police Department said its Major Crimes Unit is investigating the circumstances.

'Preliminary information gathered through witness and employee interviews indicates Kariem was ejected from the ride and struck other patrons before falling beneath the attraction,' the department said in a statement.

Several other people were injured, although authorities have not said how many or detailed their conditions. Investigators have not established why Kariem came out of the ride, and no cause has been confirmed.

Witness accounts reported by WXIA described a horrifying sequence. One said Kariem 'fell and hit the car three different times', while another told officers that his body struck other people on the ride before landing on the roof of a haunted house attraction below.

Another witness told officers that a young boy appeared to be accompanying Kariem on the coaster, and that the child seemed to be his son. That detail has not been independently confirmed by police.

Who Was Hassan Kariem?

Kariem was an Atlanta resident and had worked at Wesley International Academy, a public charter school, for 12 years. His family told WXIA that he served as robotics coach, technology teacher and IT manager.

The academy said in a Facebook statement: 'Mr Kariem was deeply loved and respected, and his absence will be felt throughout our school community.' It added that his 'love for Wesley, dedication to our students, and commitment to our school community were evident in everything he did'.

His family also told WXIA that he had survived serious illness and injury before his death, including two battles with cancer and a serious car crash in the weeks beforehand. Those accounts are deeply personal, and they explain why the alleged bogus fundraiser has landed so badly with people who knew him.

The investigation remains open. The Cobb County Police Department said detectives 'continue to examine the circumstances surrounding the incident', while Georgia's Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire is also conducting a review.

Six Flags has not publicly explained what caused the ejection. Until investigators publish findings, the central question remains painfully simple: how did a 42-year-old father, teacher and robotics coach come to fall from a ride that thousands of people had trusted?