I was recently scammed by an organization by the name of Perry Grant Writers. Their website address is http://www.perrygrantwriters.org/. The supposed CEO is Denise Perry.
Essentially, after initial contact, she requires that $1,500 be wire transferred into a bank account that is in her name specifying that the first $1,500 is one of two $1,500 installments. She then writes an unusually good Letter of Inquiry which is designed to go to 20 30 funders across the country asking them to invite a grant proposal. She writes a draft grant proposal but indicates she will not send it for review until the remaining $1,500 is wire transferred into her account. My experience with the process follows.
On June 19th I made initial contact with Denise Perry of Perry Grant Writers only after I had done some web searches about her and looked at the alleged websites she provides on her website as testimonials. She was very friendly and seemed very knowledgeable and intelligent. We discussed at length what services she would provide to me for a total fee of $3,000. She indicated she would send me a contract which I would sign and fax back to her.
In addition, I would be required to make the initial payment of $1,500 by wire transfer into her account. She sent me an exceptional contract that concretely specified all the services she would provide for the total sum of $3,000. She claims expertise in law, to have aquaintances with Congressmen/women, to have brought in 31.7 million in grants, and the list of profound credentials goes on and on.
In addition, I received two correspondences; one correspondence was from a priest who supposedly was awarded lots of money due to a grant proposal that Denise wrote for him. He and his agency are mentioned on Denise's website in the testimonials section. The other was in the form of an email from a person who is also is mentioned in the testimonial section on Denise's website. I signed the contract, faxed it back and did the first wire transfer.
Within a matter of two days, Denise Perry sent me a very good Letter of Inquiry that also had on it a logo for my agency. As I had not yet designed a logo I was impressed that she took the time to design one for me. I contacted Denise, extremely pleased with the tremendous letter of inquiry that she wrote and very grateful for the logo which she designed. I had my own ideas for a logo that I had not shared with her, but scrapped my idea for the one she designed because I liked it so much.
During that conversation Denise informed me she would begin work on a draft of my proposal. I was pleased to hear that. She also asked me if I had a website. I told her that I have not designed one yet. She indicated that Boards that review proposals will look to see if there is a website. She said she would design one for me because she believed in my cause. I was elated!
On Monday, June 25th Denise contacted me and told me the draft was completed. That struck me as incredibly fast because we are asking for $480,000 in funding and it seemed to me that an award winning grant would have taken more time to prepare. Denise said I could not view the grant until I wire transferred the remaining balance of $1,500. Based upon the excellence of the Letter of Inquiry that she wrote for my organization and the fact that she designed a logo and offered to design a website for me, I rushed in to wire the balance due.
On June 26th Denise sent to me a draft of my proposal. There was an extreme difference in the quality of the writing as compared to the Letter of Inquiry. The draft of the proposal struck me as mediocre. On that same day, I discovered that Perry Grant Writers is mentioned in the usacomplaints.com which is an internet website that is devoted to reporting scammers.
In addition to this discovery, I also discovered that at least one of the websites posted on Denise's website was designed by Perry Grant Writers (Homestead). Denise's website is also designed by Perry Grant Writers (Homestead). I also recalled that she said she could donate a website to me. That made me curious.
I started checking into the references that are listed in the testimonials section of her website and also tried to make contact with the individuals listed in her testimonials, particularly those same individuals that contacted me originally. I was unable to do so because there were no phone numbers listed on the websites of those that gave testimonials.
So I looked in my phone for the number of the priest that called me. I called that number. I asked for Michael Pierson, the priest, and the person who answered said, Who? I repeated myself and the person who answered said, Who the f*k is this? I then said, Is there a Father Michael Pierson there? This time I used the word Father. The person that answered said, Oh! Uh, hes not here right now. I said, OK, and hung up.
I then went to each of the websites listed in the testimonial section of Denise's website. I called directory assistance for each agency, providing each address to the operator. Not only do the agencies not exist, the street names (according to directory assistance) are fictitious as well!
In addition, I called each citys government offices and talked to tax assessors in each city. There is no listing of any of the places that are listed in the testimonials section of Denises website! At least one of the websites appear to be of her own creation.
I sent an email to Denise about all some of the above. She immediately called me. She profusely denied it all and asked me to trust her. The next day she called me back after I sent more evidence to her that it looked like she was scamming me. She called me a suspicious person and inidicated she does not want to deal with me anymore. She said that she will finish up my contract and finalize everything and be done with me, but I have ion essence received nothing further from her. She was to finalize the drafts with corrections of both the Letter of Inquiry and grant proposal. She was also to send hard copies of each proposal and letter of inquiry that she would send out.
Finally, she was supposed to send me a list of each foundation the letter of inquiry and proposal would be going to which I have not received.
I sent Denise one more email that is cc'd to my attorney. It simply reiterates what services are remaining to be completed and it asks if I should expect them to be completed by June 30th. Denises reply was very brief. It said, Yes.
I have never received hard copies of anything so there is no way for me to verify that foundations have actually received either the letter of inquiry and/or the proposal. I received a listing of foundations that she is supposedly sending my letter of inquiry/proposal to. Unfortunately, they are foundations that, if Denise had really taken the time to do this job correctly, she would have read that the foundations she claims to be sending materials to fund only certain areas of my state, and my area is not one of them.
The last email I received from Denise states that she will no longer read my emails.
I am out time and $3,000 of borrowed money that I am now responsible for. She has single-handedly hurt my non-profit agency's chances of getting off the ground because I do not have the ability to fund an authentic grant writer that will actually do what they are hired to do since I have already borrowed more than I can afford.
Denise Perry is a shameless liar and a cheat! She is amazingly convincing prior to the last installment of $1,500. Once she receives that from trusting and unsuspecting individuals, she takes the money and runs. Don't be scammed by her like I was!
I have reported this to the FBI and am making efforts to contact as many agencies as I can so I can hurt her "business" at least as much as she hurt mine by scamming me.
0 comments