Jerry Davich: Gary woman conned by ‘Obama fund’ grant scam

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Jerry Davich

Updated: December 27, 2011 7:25PM

Devetta B. received a phone call earlier this month from a man named Robert Williams. At least that’s the name he gave the Gary woman.

Williams informed Devetta that she was awarded a special “grant” for $4,500, sponsored by an “Obama fund.” There were no strings attached, and she would not have to pay it back to the government or anyone else.

Why was she awarded such a windfall grant from Uncle Sam? Three reasons, she was told: Because she had filed her taxes on time the past two years, because she has not filed bankruptcy in her life and because she has no criminal charges filed against her.

“All of those things are correct,” she told Williams, who had an Indian accent.

All she had to do to receive her grant money was wire Williams $140 for related fees to process the grant. Simple enough, right? Wrong. Big. Red. Flag.

Anytime you have to give money to receive a larger amount of money — whether it’s for a “sweepstakes” or a “grant” — you should hang up the phone, rip up the offer or delete the email. Period.

I’ve been writing this for years after hearing from too many suckers, uh, I mean readers, who fall victim to all kinds of different scams. In fact, I just received a letter from another reader, Dale J. of San Pierre, who was informed he is the beneficiary of an “unclaimed settlement” in the amount of $100,000. All he had to do was pay a processing fee.

“We think it’s a scam,” he wrote to me.

You THINK it’s a scam? Come on, folks. Sheesh.

Devetta, however, didn’t hang up on Williams. She became intrigued by the large amount of “free” money, allegedly associated with Obama. So she wired $140 to Williams in India via Western Union from PLS Check Cashers on Broadway in Gary, which charged a $10 service fee. (I’m looking at her receipt as I write this.)

“Mr. Williams talked me through the entire thing,” Devetta told me a few days later. “He called me a lot that day.”

‘I was scammed’

The next day, Devetta waited for her grant money to arrive via Western Union. It never did. No surprise, of course. She called Williams, and he told her to wire him another processing fee, this time for $175.

She paid that one, too, (and another $10 service fee) even though she can’t afford either. So far she was out $335.

“That was my Christmas money, and I need it to pay my bills,” she told me.

Williams called her back the following day for yet another processing fee, this time for $485. And if she sent it, her grant money would include a bonus to cover all the fees, too. But Devetta finally became suspicious and refused. Plus, she simply didn’t have the money.

He also asked her to pass along a friend or family member who also may be eligible for a similar grant. She obliged. Unbeknownst to Devetta, her cousin from Wisconsin also was awarded the same grant and she paid more than $400 in processing fees.

Neither woman received any grant money, and Devetta was told by Williams that she would be reimbursed for her processing fees by Jan. 13.

“I was scammed,” she told me disgustedly last week.

“Yes, I know,” I replied. “Why didn’t you contact me sooner? Or the cops? Or the Attorney General’s office? Or, well, anyone who should know better?”

Devetta didn’t really have an answer. Plus, she’s embarrassed that she was suckered, which is why I’m not printing her last name.

“Please tell me u will be able to help me retrieve my money and close that place down,” she wrote on a consumer complaint form for the Indiana Attorney General’s office. “They are using the president’s name and using it to get people’s money.”

As all of us know, there’s no way she will receive any “grant” money, or her processing fees, or any satisfaction that “Robert Williams” will be nabbed.

I called the same number she called to reach Williams or his associates, but I received a voice mail greeting so I left a message to call me.

“Hello, I heard about that grant money from the Obama fund and please call me at ... ” I said in my voice mail message. I haven’t heard back from Williams or anyone else.

When it comes to such age-old scams, too many of us will believe just about anything we’re told. And usually it’s because we really, really want to be believe it, as Devetta did.

But as circus-owner huckster P.T. Barnum once quipped, there’s a sucker born every minute. So I guess my word to the wise, again, echoes an old adage regarding the game of poker: If you can’t identify the sucker at the poker table of life in the first five minutes, then you’re the sucker.

Listen to Jerry talk about this issue on his radio show “Casual Fridays” on Friday at noon on WLPR 89.1-FM or www.thelakeshorefm.com.