A San Antonio family mourns the loss of a beloved father, while battling scammers exploiting his death.
SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio family is grieving the loss of 37-year-old Justin Rendon, a devoted father of three who was killed in a rollover crash last week on the city’s southeast side. As they mourn, they say they’re also being targeted by online impersonators using Justin’s tragedy to profit from others.
The crash happened Thursday, June 19, along Southeast Loop 410 near Sinclair. San Antonio police say Rendon veered off the road, hit a dumpster and was ejected from his personal vehicle. It happened shortly after finishing his shift as a fuel hauler for Texas TransEastern.
“He was a great father, a great son,” said Justin’s father, Eddie Rendon. “His daughters were his life.”
A graduate of Reagan High School, Justin earned Employee of the Year at his company following his first year on the job. He loved working alone, enjoyed routine and made sure to be home in time to pick up his daughters from school. His family says he had previously experienced a seizure five years ago and believe a medical episode may have contributed to the crash.
“When I went out to the crash site and didn’t see any brake marks, I’m believing there was some type of medical episode that happened again,” Eddie said. “[Doctors] said it’s probably just stress from work and family life.”
Justin was also known for his love of animals, sharing his home with fish, a snake and seven chihuahuas.
“We just went to buy dog food or something and we’d come back with another pet,” Eddie recalled with a laugh.
Now, the family is facing an entirely different kind of heartache—fake donation pages circulating online, some using Justin’s story to mislead others. On nearly every Facebook post the family found, it includes a photo of a stranger instead of Justin.
Jason Meza with the Better Business Bureau says this kind of fraud is becoming more common.
“We’re seeing aggregators of public data scraping news sites or legitimate obituaries, trying to gain followers, push services or solicit donations,” Meza said. “Artificial intelligence is now part of the scammer’s toolbox.”
Meza urges the public to look out for red flags, such as recently created social media profiles with few photos or overly generic names. He also recommends using credit cards when donating and reporting suspicious activity directly to the platform or the BBB.
For the Rendon family, it’s a violation that only deepens their grief. Eddie lost another son nearly a year ago—meaning he’s now lost two of his three sons.
As of Friday evening, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office had not yet determined the manner of Justin’s death.
The family is currently working to rehome Justin’s beloved pets, and they’re asking the public to help stop scammers by reporting any suspicious fundraisers claiming to support them.