MILWAUKEE- A man the I-Team’s been keeping an eye on for months, is behind bars. A former Wisconsin dead beat dad, who once owed more than $100,000 in back child support is in trouble again. This time, he’s being investigated for fraud!
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
Even though Scott Obst is caught up with his child support payments, he was still on probation.
Now a judge revoked his probation, pending a fraud investigation.
The Better Business Bureau says Obst scammed dozens out of money. Plus the I-Team discovered his alleged scam is hurting Wisconsin businesses
Ugo Nwagbaraocha owns Diamond Discs International in West Allis and he told TODAY’S TMJ4, “Unfortunately people like Scott Obst preyed upon the good will, the good nature of the people.” Nwagbaraocha then stated, “We are hoping that a story like this – the good work you guys are doing, The BBB can help customers start educating themselves among their supplies.”
Ugo knows Scott Obst because they’ve worked in the same industry for years, the diamond cutting tool business, and now Ugo feels betrayed. He says Obst’s alleged scam hurts his company’s reputation.
Ugo says, “We are trying to clean this industry up.” Obst became the center of a Wisconsin Better Business Bureau Investigation involving fake invoice scams.
TODAY’S TMJ4’s Rob Koebel: “Could you be talking 10’s of thousands of dollars or even more?”
Ran Hoth, President of BBB: “It could be a large dollar amount. It will depend upon how greedy the scammer is. There are more invoices out there we are very concerned.”
Tiffany Reid is one of the almost dozen that filed a complaint with the BBB. She says her company paid bogus bills mailed to her company by Scott Obst.
She told TODAY’S TMJ4, “The person who was here previously had been paying them since 2009.”
Doing a Skype interview from Texas, Reid says after taking a closer look at the bills sent to her from Obst’s alleged company, Cutting Edge Tool, she realized she was paying for products that Obst never mailed to them.
Reid told the I-Team, “The invoices were roughly anywhere between a $150-$280. Small amounts where it wouldn’t catch your eye.”
Reid says her company paid Cutting Edge Tool in October 2010, April and even July of 2011. But all that time, Cutting Edge Tool never shipped them any products.
And when she called Cutting Edge Tool to complain, she says she only got a busy signal, voicemail or was disconnected. That’s when she filed a complaint with the BBB.
“I hope that he is caught, I hope that he is stopped,” Reid stated to the I-Team.
Cutting Edge Tool’s billing address is for a private mail box here in Milwaukee. The BBB says the box is registered to the one and only Scott Obst. So the I-Team decided to stake it out.
Rob Koebel: “Are you sure it is?”
Photographer: “Yes, that’s him. That’s him”
The I-Team caught him on tape picking up his mail from box number 160 multiple times. And while clutching the bogus invoices the BBB says Obst sent invoices to several different companies, and the I-Team confronted him.
Rob Koebel: “Are you just ripping these people off? Come on Scott. Give us a second here (Obst slams car door)”.
Obst refused to give the I-Team answers.
Obst was taken to jail soon after the I-Team’s investigation. But even with this alleged scammer behind bars, Ugo says he’s still having to do damage control for the entire diamond cutting industry.
“I wasn’t surprised, unfortunately, I wasn’t surprised. It’s very disappointing that he would have that type of decision making”.
Because Obst was on probation, a judge ruled he needs to sit in jail while he’s investigated for fraud.
Police will not give TODAY’S TMJ4 the exact details of the case, but the I-Team knows the BBB is investigating Obst for this alleged invoice scam.
Once again, the I-Team wanted to hear Scott Obst’s side of the story.
The I-Team asked him for a jail house interview. He denied the request.
