Source: BintScam.com / Bint Scam
Perhaps you’ve noticed that in response to the pandemic, people are constantly looking for ways to make a little extra money outside of the tradition 9-5 space. This past year and some change has shown people how precarious and unpredictable life can be. So it’s always nice to have a little cushion should things go left…again.
Increasingly, folks have started investing in stocks, picking up side jobs, cashing stimmys and even partnering with friends and family in Sou-Sous. But it’s not always easy to come by money quickly and looking for a quick return on your investment can open you up to all types of scams.
Sadly, that’s what several Black people in the Dallas/Fort Worth area found when they trusted a couple with their money.
According to NBC DFW, Marlon Moore, who is also known as DJ ASAP and his wife Lashonda Moore are being accused of scamming tens of millions of dollars from people, without ever leaving the comfort of their home in Prosper, Texas.
The couple had a bit of recognizability after they appeared on the OWN show, “Family or Fiance,” where family members share their concerns and doubts about their loved one’s partners.
While the point of the show is to show the money problems in a relationship, apparently it wasn’t enough to caution people from investing with these two.
Several of their clients have filed a lawsuit with the couple and their company, BINT Operations, LLC. BINT stands for Blessings In No Time.
It was also the faith aspect of the business that attracted clients.
Rosetta Fleming, a grandmother and retired teacher from Mississippi, told NBC DFW, “They wanted to say its for Blacks, they wanted to say it’s to build the Black community…They promised that they would give you a refund if you were not satisfied.”
Fleming got into business with the Moore’s by investing $1,400. She says the couple promised to “bless and assist needy members of the African American community in the wake of the pandemic and economic and social strife.”
Instead, she alleges they did the opposite.
The goal of the organization was to recruit people in order to be paid or “blessed.”
Fleming recruited several people to work with the Moores and was promised $11,000 in compensation.
“I kept thinking, ‘Oh, I need $11,400. I can get out of debt.”
But Fleming never received the money they were promised. After she Fleming and her husband had invested $7,000, they requested refunds.
After seven months, they are still waiting.
Fleming said that in Zoom calls as recently as December, the Moores promised BINT participants that requested refunds were on the way.
Marlon Moore said, “Guys, we are working all refunds, we had an active refund list and before that refund list got too long we wanted to go ahead and say hey, ‘Lets go ahead and shut it down’.”
The couple claimed refunds would be processed in the order they were received.
According to the Attorney General’s lawsuit, “Since January 2021, the State has received nearly 200 consumer complaints against Defendants alleging over $700,000 in losses of monies contributed to the Defendants but never refunded.”
One alleged victim wrote in the lawsuit, “The Moore’s SCAMMED, CONNED, HOODWINKED over 8,000 Black and Brown people during a pandemic.”
The Moore’s have yet to respond to the case that has been brought against them and according to NBC DFW, the couple don’t have an attorney listed on their online court records.
