A month later, 424 people had donated $15,707 to Ms Kerton's GoFundMe page to cover the costs of Aaron's funeral where six white doves and balloons were released as a final goodbye.

About the same time in Queensland, a GoFundMe page was launched to fund the funeral of 15-year-old Breyton Horomona who suffered a fatal allergic reaction to calamari at school.

In the past 27 days, 444 friends and family – including a 12-year-old who gave $5 because he suffered similar allergies – donated $35,860 to the funeral fund started by his uncle Jamie Elkington that paid for the funeral, a three-day wake in the Maori tradition, and assistance for Breyton's surviving six siblings.

Like most people, neither Mr Elkington in QLD or Ms Kerton in WA realised that regulators in their state believe that fundraising for a funeral should only be done by a licensed charity, yet experts say this area of the law is unclear.

It is one example of how the growth in online fundraising has outpaced the law, say experts. State and Territory fair trading commissioners agreed in February 2016 to establish a working party of senior officers to review regulation of fundraising, including online crowd-sourced fundraising.

The explosion in online fundraising had starkly highlighted the "messy state of fundraising law in Australia," said Sue Woodward, who specialises in not-for-profit law with Justice Connect, itself a non-profit organisation.

"Unfortunately the law hasn't keep up to date, " she said. "And when there is a gap between what the law contemplates and the activities happening now, there is a potential for confusion and for people to do the wrong thing."

Fundraising for a funeral is one of the fastest growing areas on crowdfunding sites, ranging from YouCaring, MyCause, Pozible and FuneralFund. American research estimates crowdsourcing funeral expenses has grown twice as fast as any other category, and they often receive 50 per cent more page views because the stories – like Breyton's and Aaron's – are tragic and in the news.

A funeral page has become the "new obituary", said Adrienne Gonzalez, the founder of GoFraudMe, a critic of GoFundMe. Often memorial and funeral pages were launched before the body was even cold, she said.

GoFundMe, launched in 2010, has doubled in size this year alone, and with $2 billion in donations, is the largest. In Australia its fee combined with online payment processing charges total 6.75 per cent plus 30¢ on every donation to an individual campaign.

A campaign starts every 18 seconds on GoFundMe to pay for health costs, someone's dream trip, a funeral or a memorial. In Australia, where GoFundMe has raised $60 million in the past two years, funding funerals and memorials is the second most popular category.

Breyton's father, Bishop Horomona of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said fundraising had been the last thing on his mind when his brother-in-law had proposed it. "We were hurting and didn't want everyone to feel sorry for us. But they went ahead, and in the end, it was such a help for us." He was warned by other members of the church, though, to be wary of online fundraisers and people attending the funeral who may expect a free flight home.

Even with the best of intentions, it is easy to upset donors as Ms Kerton discovered. Some donors were alarmed to see their bank accounts listing the donation to Aaron's funeral as "Misty's vet fees". That was a reference to a previous fundraiser by Ms Kerton for her dog that she hadn't fixed in the rush to put up the page after Aaron's body was discovered.

Other donors queried why Aaron's father Keith spent money on new suits. Some asked why the family had not approached established government programs, such as those helping victims of crimes. Mr Sweetman told Fairfax he was "absent-minded with grief", and should have loaded receipts online earlier than he did.

"With so much grief. I forgot about everyone. I was very much concerned about my son, my son was taken away from me," he told Fairfax. "We've had such a good response from most of the public, yet of course, naturally, you do get a few who are unhappy. At a time of grief, it doesn't seem right that some people feel animosity .. but some people do."

M s Kerton ended up pulling the plug on the fundraiser: "When it hit $15,707 I stopped it because it was getting out of control," she said. She had set up the account to help Aaron's aunts, who were afraid the funeral would bankrupt the family, yet the fundraising had left "a sour taste". Ms Kerton also lost money from additional bank fees when some donors asked for their money back.

WA Government's consumer protection officials also tried unsuccessfully to transfer the fundraising for Aaron's funeral to a licensed charity because the online appeal breached the state's law on charities.

Setting up an online fundraising site following a tragedy was routine, said WA's acting commissioner for consumer protection Dave Hillyard.

"It is just about the default move. There will be an outpouring on Facebook and someone puts up a GoFundMe site to deal with the outpouring of emotion and financial support," he said.

"There will be flurry of activity, and money will start pouring in," he said. It is not unusual for donors to query how money is spent. Yet donors who ask whether the case is legitimate are often attacked for daring to ask in a time of grief.

Mr Hillyard said without independent and objective decision making and accounting by a licensed charity, fundraising often became very difficult. "People blurt things out, and it gets very negative."

Australia's laws had "not kept up with the development in technology" that has seen crowdfunding explode.

While crowdfunding sites cross borders, Australia's charity laws differ from state to state.

For instance, WA Government's consumer protection officials tried unsuccessfully to transfer the fundraising for Aaron's funeral to a licensed charity because the online appeal breached the state's law on charities.

While raising funds for a funeral requires a license in WA and QLD, it does not in NSW.

In South Australia, people collecting money for individuals or their families for specific causes (eg funeral costs, health expenses) are not considered charities and, as such, do not require a licence. In Queensland, donations from the public for a charitable or community purpose, regardless of whether the fundraising is done by 'crowd-funding' or simply by donation, may only be done by a licensed fundraiser or an individual can apply for an exemption.

GoFundMe's CEO Rob Solomon said that the "platform is built to empower people to help people all around the world, and that's not limited to family members."

Fraudulent campaigns were very rare, taking place less than one tenth of one percent of the time.

Funds weren't released in cases where there wasn't a direct, personal connection between the campaign organiser and beneficiary, until the beneficiary was verified. "We pride ourselves on protecting donors, campaign organisers, and the beneficiaries of GoFundMe campaigns ... If there is a case where someone is trying to take advantage of donors' generosity and they create a fraudulent campaign, we take action, remove the campaign, ban the user, and refund the donors."

Yet critics like Adrienne Gonzalez, who established GoFraudMe to highlight scammers, says GoFundme doesn't do enough to screen people setting up funding pages, especially for a funeral. While there have only been a few scams in Australia, her site includes a growing list of scam funeral fundraisers preying on grieving families.

Info: Different fundraising rules across Australia

Info: Justice Connect