Fraud

Michael E. Holtby, LCSW, BCD

DenverPsychotherapy.net

FRAUDULENT USE OF WEBSITE KEYWORDS

June 10, 2009

A colleague brought to my attention the fact that another Denver area therapist was using my name, and the names of a half dozen other therapists in town, among the key words hidden in the html of his website. The obvious purpose was to divert traffic from my site to his. I called this therapist and confronted him, and he admitted both his motivation and actions. However, he did so with much mitigation and conflicting explanations. I also contacted all the other therapists involved.

If you do a search for my name, and another therapist comes up, please check the link. There may me a legitimate reference to me, as in Barry Erdmann, LCSW's website. But if my name does not appear on the link, it is a fraudulent diversion of my business and I would appreciate your contacting me.

Maybe it is a backwards complement that another therapist is piggy-backing on my success! But if this particular individual repeats his use of my name in his key words, I will reveal his identity on this page and also make a formal complaint to the Licensing Board.

DENVER THERAPIST THE VICTIM OF

FRAUDULENT IMPERSONATION

October 24, 2000

Thomas Ramey Watson, Ph.D. thought he was helping a colleague on 10/20/00 when he sent Michael E. Holtby, LCSW air fare to return from Los Angeles. Holtby was purportedly mugged and stranded without money, credit cards or I.D. while attending a professional conference. Holtby and his wife were, in fact, away for the weekend; but they had gone to a family wedding, and were not in California. The person who called Watson appealing for help was not Holtby, but a con man who tried the same con in February, 2000. On that occasion he called Aurora therapist Larry Weckbaugh whose wary secretary, Renee Roop didn't buy the ploy.

The con man then posed as a Boulder, Colorado therapist, and appealed to Robin Bohannan, the director of the Boulder AIDS Project, saying he had been stabbed in L.A. and needed money to get back to Denver. Ms. Bohannan knew personally the therapist, and realized immediately it was an impersonation.

The same phone scam was run in January, 2000 by an individual who claimed to be the Lambda Community Center Director from Fort Collins.

If this happens to you, contact the Internet Fraud Watch 1-800-876-7060 (on line at www.fraud.org), and/or Dolores Garza, Fraud Division, Ft. Collins Police Department 970-221-6540 (fax: 970-221-6639). Also please let Mr. Holtby know, to include your experience in the data base of this perpetrator's attempted scams: holtby@DenverPsychotherapy.com

The perpetrator of these impersonations is an individual in Los Angeles - West Hollywood who gets his information off the web sites of his victims, and then calls that persons' colleagues in the Denver area. He calls collect from public phones. He has targeted therapists who cater to the gay community, and is gay himself. He also, most probably, lived in the Denver area at one time, and may have been a past client of one or more of these therapists.

You may consider agreeing to send him money, establish a pick up location via Western Union, and then contact Western Union and the police in that area.

Last messed with June 17, 2009