March 01, 2011

Advertising kiosks in scam targeting churches

Southern California churches get scammed. The kiosks displayed advertisements -- from which churches were promised a cut of revenue -- along with announcements of church activities and public service messages. Churches were promised that advertisers would make lease payments and that the congregations had no financial obligation, the suit says.

State lawsuit says kiosk scam ripped off Inland churches | Local News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

10:00 PM PST on Monday, February 28, 2011

By DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise
The state attorney general's office filed a lawsuit Monday seeking more than $800,000 in restitution and fines in an alleged computer-kiosk scam that targeted predominantly African-American churches, including nine in the Inland area.

The suit alleges that several companies and individuals tricked the members of 33 Southern California churches, and 195 nationwide, to sign misleading, expensive lease agreements for computer kiosks that they were promised could make money for the congregations. Instead, the suit says, churches were left with tens of thousands of dollars in lease payments and, in many cases, shoddy computer equipment that didn't work.

The kiosks displayed advertisements -- from which churches were promised a cut of revenue -- along with announcements of church activities and public service messages. Churches were promised that advertisers would make lease payments and that the congregations had no financial obligation, the suit says.

The suit seeks restitution and fines from the defendants, who include Wayne and Tanya Wilson, a Rancho Cucamonga couple who were the California representatives of the two now-defunct Maryland companies that ran the alleged scheme. The Wilsons could not be reached for comment.

Two leaders of the companies, Television Broadcasting Online and Urban Interfaith Network, were sentenced in December to up to 20 years in prison in Michigan for defrauding churches there, according to the Michigan attorney general's office.

The Wilsons had ties to several black churches in Southern California and leveraged their trust to gain the confidence of the congregations, said Richard Nevins, a trustee of one of the alleged victims, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in San Bernardino.

"It was a sad scam that was run by church people who took advantage of historical, personal and religious ties to run a modern-day Ponzi scheme," he said. "That's why this virus spread."

New Hope lost thousands of dollars on the two kiosks it leased for nearly $100,000 over two years, Nevins said.

Two leasing companies -- one of which was named in the lawsuit -- sued New Hope to collect the lease payments that were not made. The church reached a confidential settlement with the companies, Nevins said.

Churches in Riverside, Temecula, Moreno Valley and Perris also were victims of the scam, according to the attorney general's office.

The Wilsons claimed the kiosks would be free, but according to the lawsuit, "dense legalese in small font" in the lease said the contract could never be canceled and if churches were late with a single payment, leasing companies could demand two years of payments immediately, with interest.

Reach David Olson at 951-368-9462 or [email protected]

State lawsuit says kiosk scam ripped off Inland churches | Local News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California


Posted by staff at March 1, 2011 07:41 AM