We basically emptied our piggy bank.
[00:00:18] He’s a total actor.
That’s what I would have to say.
He could play the part like a genius.
He knew what to say and how to say it.
[00:00:32] Michelle: Welcome back to AARP’sThe Perfect Scamand a new season.
You wish they were fiction, right.
[00:01:24] Frank Abagnale: Hi, Michelle.
Great to be back with you for another session.
Just since coronavirus started, Americans have lost nearly 60 million dollars to fraud.
And that’s so painful considering the many difficulties that people are already facing out there.
So tell us, Frank, what is the latest you’re seeing?
Is, is this coronavirus fraud evolving in any way?
[00:03:20] Michelle: Thanks, Frank, for keeping us all on our guard.
And Doc Gallagher, by all accounts, has one of those bigger than life personalities.
[00:03:37] Clip: This is Doc Gallagher.
Call me at 972-445-0770 with your questions and concerns about anything having to do with mu–, me.
I’ve been doing this for 20 years, been on the radio for about 12.
[00:03:51] Larger as life.
Everyone knows him, you know.
[00:03:56] Doc wanted uh, he wanted attention.
[00:03:59] Michelle: And down there in Dallas, Doc knew how to get it.
His name is actually William Neil Gallagher.
He’s 79 years old, and with a PhD in Philosophy from Brown, calls himself Doc.
He gave himself the name, The Money Doctor.
On his blog, he calls himself America’s Money Doctor.
But for the most part, he was known around Dallas, specifically in Christian circles.
And all over 55.
[00:05:47] And guess who’s the MC of the whole thing?
[00:05:49] Michelle: Yep, Doc Gallagher was.
It was around the time they were starting to think seriously about their finances for retirement.
And right away I was really surprised, I wasn’t expecting to hear from him.
I thought perhaps a secretary, or an assistant would call me, but it was him.
[00:06:26] Michelle: Wow.
[00:06:27] Margaret: And I was surprised.
Maybe I should have been a little wary, I don’t know.
But I was surprised.
[00:06:34] Michelle: Well describe what he’s like.
[00:06:36] Margaret: Okay.
He’s kind of casual, he’s kind of Texas that way.
He comes across very strong.
He comes across like he’s the most fun person to be around.
[00:07:05] Michelle: Yeah, okay.
[00:07:14] Michelle: Got it.
[00:07:14] Margaret: That’s kind of what he’s like.
He’d make himself public.
He’d be downtown feeding the hungry and he’d send you articles about it.
[00:07:28] Michelle: He’d name-drop a lot too.
People like Zig Ziglar, Joel Osteen.
He’d show pictures of himself with all kinds of celebrities.
[00:07:36] Margaret: He tried to cover every base, every base.
That also fools you, all those little nuances, you know.
Self-promotion, self-promotion everywhere.
[00:08:08] Michelle: (laugh) Jesus Christ, Money Master!
[00:08:10] Allen: We never really read it.
[00:08:12] Margaret: I, I actually read the book.
I mean he’d call us, and he’d say, did you read my book?
Did you read my book, and so I read it.
[00:08:17] Michelle: How does Jesus figure into the investment scheme?
[00:08:25] Michelle: Okay.
[00:08:29] Margaret: And giving to people, and you know.
[00:08:39] Michelle: Oh, this is so ironic that he wrote a book like that.
It makes me, now I’m starting to get mad, you know!
[00:08:47] Margaret: You too.
He knew that that was our perspective.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it," you know.
[00:09:26] Michelle: Yeah.
No pressure at all, nothing fancy.
[00:09:53] Michelle: So that was a real investment.
[00:09:55] Allen: That was a real…
[00:09:56] Margaret: A real investment.
[00:10:00] Michelle: Oh wow.
Okay, well then, I think you guys sort of made out okay in this.
[00:10:05] Allen: Well that first investment we made out okay.
That’s the first one.
[00:10:09] Michelle: Ah, okay.
Youre like, wait, there’s more.
[00:10:14] Michelle: There is more.
But it doesn’t come for another four years when Allen was drawing ever closer now to retirement.
And now things are a little different.
Let’s put that money to work for you."
[00:11:08] Michelle: Definitely.
There was a little fear of loss…
[00:11:16] Michelle: Got it.
[00:11:34] Allen: No, it was moderate pressure.
It wasn’t heavy, it was, you know, I have a time deadline.
[00:11:47] Allen: You know, this offer will last by midnight, you know.
[00:11:51] Michelle: Expires tonight.
[00:11:58] Michelle: This is a little bit Bernie Madoff-ish to me in retrospect.
[00:12:03] Allen: It, it, I think it is a little bit.
[00:12:25] Allen: We basically emptied our piggy banks to take advantage of this.
They are really hesitant about this.
This money came from beloved relatives.
[00:13:03] Margaret: He’s a total actor.
That’s what I would have to say.
He could play the part like a genius.
[00:13:41] Allen: He says, I think I have an answer.
He talked about this Leon Weissman Memorial Fund.
And it was, Leon Weissman was a real person.
He was, he died, he was 93.
I have the obituary from the Fort Worth Star Telegram, and, and he had passed.
But there is no such thing as a memorial fund.
[00:14:52] Michelle: What kinds of things?
[00:14:54] Margaret: Okay.
The first one was, he gave us tickets to go to The Senior Follies.
[00:14:59] Michelle: Yeah.
And I thought, that is really strange.
Why wouldn’t he be surrounded by people?
Because there were people everywhere.
And, and that kind of peaked my curiosity right there.
But I just, for a minute, and then I let it go.
[00:15:40] Michelle: Oh, like he was sort of a little disorganized?
[00:15:43] Margaret: Yeah, well he is a very disorganized person.
[00:15:47] Michelle: (laugh) How so?
And I was…
[00:15:59] Michelle: Oh my gosh.
[00:16:04Michelle: Still, Doc is the kind of person who makes you feel like you matter.
He would send Allen and Margaret little gifts, DVDs, books.
He would come to their home.
The Gallaghers had some properties, but weren’t living large.
They had a nice house, but it wasn’t some sprawling mansion.
Margaret’s misgivings she put aside, because she and Allen needed the help with finances as retirement loomed.
And, you know, it was just a general statement.
[00:17:39] Michelle: Sure.
And I saw that, but I didn’t question it.
Allen was preparing to do that.
[00:19:01] Michelle: He seemed to rush off then into the warm Texas evening.
And it was around this time, they noticed, the tone had changed in Doc’s correspondence.
So he put himself into the story as a provision sent from God to help us.
And that might have, that was one of the last things that he ever did.
[00:20:34] Michelle: That’s Harold, another character in this strange story.
Harold is 88, and himself has lived a colorful life.
Oh, and he also has a PhD in History.
[00:20:57] Michelle: I’m getting a little jealous here.
Everybody’s got a PhD.
Maybe that should be my next project.
[00:21:02] Harold: Yes.
[00:21:03] Michelle: Okay, so you guys connected on a number of levels, then.
[00:21:18] Harold: Yeah.
Yeah, well my wife also has a PhD, and…
[00:21:23] Michelle: See!
Everybody’s got a PhD.
[00:21:30] Michelle: And what did you think of him?
Did he seem like a good guy?
[00:21:33] Harold: He did.
So far as I could tell…
[00:21:36] Anne: I didn’t like him.
[00:21:37] Harold: …he was very personable, and he had a good stage presence.
[00:21:41] Michelle: Wait, wait, wait.
[00:21:48] Michelle: …just say I didn’t like him?
[00:21:50] Harold: Yes.
We managed to her on the line a time or two.
[00:22:16] Anne: Hi, I’m Hal’s better half.
[00:22:18] Michelle: I can hear you.
You’ve got some stuff to say.
[00:22:20] Anne: Well, I’ll say it.
I had misgivings about Doc from the beginning.
[00:22:43] Anne: Yep.
[00:22:55] Michelle: Oh my goodness.
I did not feel comfortable with him.
Harold does his due diligence.
He gets references, even checks out Doc’s PhD to see if it’s real.
Hmm, not good.
Harold likes that too.
He makes the decision to invest $100,000 with him.
Remember with Bernie Madoff, it’s like you had to beg him to invest with him.
Did he kind of become your best friend?
Like he must have been so happy that, that you had given him that much money.
So, it was not a pushy situation.
[00:25:17] Michelle: Harold also appreciated that Doc was charitable.
He would match other people’s donations to spur more.
He was patriotic, he was religious, he was sociable.
He seemed genuinely interested in being friends.
Something that also kind of annoyed Anne.
[00:26:06] Anne: When our daughter got married, he wanted to perform the service.
Thank God he didn’t.
I mean he was really pushing for that.
I didn’t want that.
[00:26:18] Michelle: Oh my goodness.
[00:26:20] Anne: I just did not do that.
I was very vocal about it.
There was just something about him that wasn’t right.
And so, the uh, second one came, and it was very much the same.
There was no real accounting for the money.
[00:27:02] Michelle: Two Texas couples now are wondering what’s going on with Doc exactly?
And it’s all starting to not bode too well down in Dallas.
Take it away, Harold.
[00:27:36] Harold: (singing) “I fell into a burning ring of fire.
I went down, down, down and the rains went higher.
And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire, the ring of fire.”
Next week onThe Perfect Scam, these couples and you will find out the truth about Doc.
What on earth happened to all those investments, and what happens to him.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’sThe Perfect Scam, I’m Michelle Kosinski.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
Most people in Dallas, Texas, knowWilliam Neil Doc Gallagher as the ‘Money Doctor.’
Doc uses his smooth radio voice to emcee for Dallas much loved Senior Follies singing group.
He offers financial advice to anyone willing to lend and ear and lavishes friends and acquaintances with gifts.
But all of Docs good deeds come with sinister strings attached.
