[00:00:03] Holly Saunders: They said, “Do you have a picture of this guy?”
But it’s like the embroidery you would use on a towel or something.
That is absolutely a no.
Don’t do anything with him.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:00:39] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host Bob Sullivan.
Jill Alper and Holly Saunders had a great friendship.
They were neighbors in South Carolina who bonded because they were both raising twins.
Today, we begin a two-part series on a medical spa franchise opportunity that went south.
But our story actually begins up north.
I work for The Republican and MassLive.com.
[00:01:43] Bob: Is it fair to call you Western Massachusetts largest newspaper?
[00:01:45] Stephanie Barry: Yes.
[00:01:46] Bob: Okay.
[00:01:47] Stephanie Barry: Yep.
[00:01:47] Bob: So how, how long have you been there?
[00:01:58] Bob: Dana Dray McCann.
Stephanie was doing what all new reporters do when they first start out.
[00:02:16] Stephanie Barry: I was a brand-new reporter.
And so I was so new that I didn’t cover his trial.
[00:02:40] Bob: There wasn’t supposed to be much drama that day.
McCann was there just to be sentenced which normally would only take a few minutes.
But he was given the chance to make a statement to the court and boy did he.
[00:03:38] Stephanie Barry: Just about.
Just about, yeah.
[00:03:40] Bob: (chuckling) What did you make of this?
[00:03:42] Stephanie Barry: I, I, I thought, do all sentencings go this way?
But the fact of the matter was a lot of people have.
[00:04:11] Bob: There was something special about McCann, Stephanie remembers.
[00:04:15] Stephanie Barry: He was an average looking man.
He was in orange prison garb, which is flattering to no one.
I suppose that he was handsome enough, and I guess he was eloquent enough.
His voice was kind of musical.
I don’t mean he was singing the opera, but you know, he had a nice presentation.
He just has a fair amount of charisma, and I think charisma gets you a long way.
He might have been known for being lenient from the bench, but not this time.
And I never, ever do this.
But I am sentencing you to the maximum penalty that the law allows.”
And that was 7 years in prison.
So that was in 2003.
[00:05:14] Bob: So McCann goes away for a long time.
Seven years pass; Stephanie goes on to become an award-winning investigative reporter.
McCann serves his time and ends up back in Judge Ponsor’s courtroom almost immediately.
And I said, “Vaguely.
Vaguely I do, why?”
I said, “Really?
Tell me about that.”
And he stole $125,000 in her jewelry and took off.
He had a line of credit, and then he stiffed them on the bill.
So that hotel called New York City detectives and they started pursuing him.
So then he went away for another couple of years.
[00:08:12] Stephanie Barry: Right.
So that was prophetic, um, obviously.
And God help us all if you bump into this guy in business or in romance.
And he was right.
[00:08:43] Bob: Jill Alper is an art dealer who has traveled the world.
But when she started that family, well it kind of happened all at once.
She was pregnant with twins, and that’s how she meets Holly Saunders.
We are really great friends.
I used to live in Laurens, South Carolina, and she lived down the street from me.
I’m Holly Saunders.
I have twins, and I’m going to be here for you."
I remember her saying like, it’s going to be okay.
Her twins are, they’re in their probably 30s or 40s now.
So anyways, we became friends 16 years ago.
[00:09:44] Bob: Holly remembers the dawn of their friendship the same way.
And so that kind of was our original bond together.
I just remember telling her, you could do this.
[00:10:32] Jill Alper: So the, the art business has only been for like five years.
Before that I was in banking.
I had just started the business.
So that’s kind of where I was at when I met him in 2019.
[00:11:22] Bob: That’s where she meets him – Dr. Dan.
Not at an art show, but at a theater performance.
I’m like, “I gotta go.
Beautiful night, just kind of waiting on my ride, and he walks up to me.
Just very, “How are you doing?”
And he said, “Would you like to go get a drink?”
We have a huge horse area in Tryon, North Carolina.
I said, “I’m going to Spain.”
He knew how to speak Spanish.
I mean I was just very intrigued by this man.
[00:13:22] Bob: As she waits for her Uber, it seems to take forever getting there.
This man just keeps chatting away.
Then he pulls out his phone to share pictures of his life in Beverly Hills.
And he gives her the nugget of an idea, an opportunity.
[00:13:39] Jill Alper: He showed me pictures of like him and Kate Moss.
I mean he had, it was something to back everything he said.
Because I, I usually have my guard up a little bit with men.
No doubt about it.
It just, it made sense.
I’m helping women.
You know, just, it just all made sense.
In fact, she texts with this man a little bit more while she’s away.
Finally, she opens up to Holly about this chance meeting with Dr. Dan.
Holly is very supportive right away.
I honestly think this is a great thing for you, particularly.
And I would be very interested in having a partnership business with you.
She learns more about how Dr. Dan got into the fat freezing business.
He tells her to call a spa in New York to talk with one of his colleagues.
She confirms a lot of what Dr. Dan had said.
So he decided to go into the, the fat freezing business.
I’m like, wow, I mean this guy is, this guy’s real.
But that night, it’s Dr. Dan who really steals the show.
He’s going to buy art.
I mean the whole, all the people are around him stunned.
He is singing and I mean it was like a performance I had never seen in someone’s house.
And I don’t, it’s just, out of nowhere.
And I look at Holly, I’m like, oh my, I mean who is this guy?
He seems heaven sent.
Still, heaven is one thing, payment for art is another.
I’m like, “No, you cannot.
With this business, you have to pay before you take.”
And he flies, I mean he just zooms.
He takes off like a banshee.
And I said, “I know.
It’s just not, not sharp at all.”
[00:19:27] Jill Alper: He had given me this huge manual, like 100 pages.
It is every detail of this business.
The grids of how to make money.
So, they take a road trip to see the business in action.
“Sit tight, I’ll be right back.”
And he said, “I live real close to here.”
He hasn’t had time to go home.
He literally gets out of the car with cat burglar tools.
[00:21:20] Holly Saunders: I’m not sure how he got in.
But he got in there.
[00:21:30] Bob: A bit confused, but nothing else seems wrong.
So Holly and Jill proceed to see for themselves how fat freezing technology works.
It was nice – sort of.
It didn’t look real super-duper, just somehow it just didn’t look that clean to me.
It wasn’t filthy at all.
But he had this business on Groupon.
The girl that ran it, she walks in.
She was very nice and very gentle throw in of a person.
You know, she kind of took a back seat to him.
I said, “So, is this working well?
I mean are you getting a lot of customers?”
She went, “Oh yes, yes, yeah.”
And he’s doing the procedure on Jill.
And, and I thought, you know, that’s easy.
I mean I; I can handle this.
I know I can handle this.
There’s just nothing complicated about it.
[00:22:47] Bob: Nothing complicated about it.
Perhaps the perfect side business.
So they have lunch and talk about their good fortune.
[00:22:57] Holly Saunders: And so Jill and I proceeded to go to eat pizza.
[00:23:09] Bob: Back in South Carolina, they start running the numbers.
They start looking for a storefront, start talking to landlords about leases.
Dr. Dan wants to come and see how the setup might work.
And so he comes to Jill’s home, and I was there.
And so the rent was maybe, I don’t remember, 1200, 900, 1200?
I don’t remember.
Then you’d have to have pull in telephone, networking, all sorts of stuff.
So I’m having my doubts there.
I’m all in.
And now I understand, ‘cause he wanted to sell two or three machines.
You know, so he’s trying to get more money.
[00:25:35] Bob: Just then, the opportunity starts to sound even sweeter to Jill.
Dr. Dan has come by a discounted machine.
Do you want it?
I’ll do it for $10,000 instead of $15,000.”
And I was like, okay, okay, you know.
So anyway, he came to Greenville, and he goes, “I need cash.”
I said, “Okay.”
I know the business.
I mean he has shown me so many pictures of like the spas, people using it.
I mean it’s just, it just was like, okay.
[00:26:31] Bob: Dr. Dan wants payment right away, however.
I got pictures of that.
You know, he sent pictures of the whole process.
[00:26:56] Bob: You wired him the, the remaining $6,000, right?
[00:26:58] Jill Alper: Right.
She decides to wait for the machine to get there.
That turns out to be a good choice because she’s going to have to wait a long time.
[00:27:21] Jill Alper: I said, “Alright, what’s the update?”
And then he would text me back.
And, you know, there was always something going but, you know, I would get updates.
You know you’re, it’s an investment, and, and I was super excited.
I’m, I’m studying, I’m learning all I can.
[00:27:59] Bob: Meanwhile, Holly is keeping an eye out for the machine’s arrival.
Despite her cold feet, she’s still thinking about investing in her own place.
Joe’s going to be here."
Joe is my daughter’s best friend from growing up.
And I said, “Oh, okay.
What in the world are you getting yourself into?”
And I said, “No, I think it’s legit.
I mean wow, it’s a great opportunity.”
They said, “Do you have a picture of this guy?”
And I said, “Well, yeah, let me, here.”
But it’s like the embroidery you would use on a towel or something.
I mean nobody does that.
That is absolutely a no."
They said, “Don’t do anything with him.
Don’t do anything with him, just hold off.”
And so I come home, house is quiet, everybody’s in bed.
I go upstairs to my room.
Up comes scammer, blah, blah, blah.
The history, the lawsuits or the whatevers, and I mean I just couldn’t believe it.
I, I absolutely was stunned, and I thought that, there he is.
[00:30:34] Bob: Dan McCann, that’s him!
She didn’t answer, she didn’t respond whatsoever.
And so I was just furious to tell you the truth.
Should I send them over there?"
And so I did.
[00:31:45] Bob: And when she sees Jill, it’s not good.
And I said, “Is your mother here?”
And she went, “Yeah, but I don’t think she’s doing real well.”
And I said, “Where is she?”
And I mean I just burst into her room.
What in the world?
Why haven’t you answered my calls, my texts?
I have been worried to death about you."
And she said, “I’ve been at the FBI all morning.”
And I said, “Oh my gosh.”
And I went, “Oh my gosh, okay.”
So it all made sense then … sort of.
[00:32:55] Bob: Yeah, yeah.
[00:32:56] Holly Saunders: And um, I thought, okay.
Well, you’ve saved me 15,000.
I mean it’s really kind of tragic.
Anyway, she was just a mess.
And I said, “Jill, stop.
Just don’t even go there.”
And I’m going to do that.
I’m going to sign up for a machine."
[00:33:46] Bob: I’m going to sign up for a machine?
Holly wants to buy another fat freezing equipment from a man she now believes is a scammer?
That’s next week on The Perfect Scam.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch online grid Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
Holly, though, is beginning to think Dr. Dan may not be the man he claims.
Will this scammer be any match for these friends when they team up with the FBI?
