How To Report Fraud at Bustathief.com

Dear sir, I came to Kenya a few months ago to complete a two month volunteer programe with an NGO called «waltz volunteers». I believe this Organization is fraudulent. Waltz Volunteers poses as an American NGO. Their head offices are in Orlando, Florida.
The CEO is a man named John M. Pertet. Under the credibility their American status gives them, they bring volunteers to Kenya, American citizens mostly, but also of other nationalities, they scam the volunteers out of large amounts of money while here and have them living in the worst of conditions.

I paid a 300USD registration fee and a further 1200USD to this Organization prior to my arrival in Kenya. The fee was to cover accommodation, transport and 3 meals per day for the duration of my stay. Each volunteer pays approximately 650USD per month to be here.

One of the volunteers fundraised through friends and family in Canada, to help buy an Ultrasound machine for the clinic she works at.
2000 Canadian dollars were raised and sent in her name via Western Union to Nairobi. When she went to Western Union to withdraw the money, it had already been removed and there was no record of it. She called mr.Pertet, who told her he had taken the money and put it in his personal account for safety reasons. This was September 15th. To this date he has not returned the money to her, claiming there are ‘auditors’ here from the United States and the account is frozen.

The other volunteer paid 600USD for a trip to Masai Mara in September. Mr Pertet told her the money did not go through and asked her to re-send it and he would refund her if both payments were received. She is also still waiting for that refund. A previous volunteer, who has now left Kenya, paid mr Pertet 2000USD for the same Masai Mara trip. Three days into the trip, mr Pertet informed her that the rest of the journey had to be cancelled and he would refund her 1200USD. She returned to Nairobi and after a lot of persistent requests was given a check for 1100USD. She went to the bank to cash it and was told that the account was empty.

No receipts have ever been given to the volunteers despite their requests. I was sent to Eldoret, to work at the IDP camp there. While I was there I noticed certain irregularities, especially regarding funds. For instance, an amount of 2500Ksh was to be sent to me every week by the CEO, to buy food for the children, he did not send that money and instead asked me to buy it and he would refund me.

After two weeks I came to Nairobi on my own initiative to organize a fundraiser for the IDP camp children. That is when I noticed a lot more irregularities, especially when it came to money. After about a week of fundraising both in cash and foodstuff, I decided to cancel the fundraiser due to doubts about the legitimacy of the organization. By this time mr. Pertet personally owed me 175USD. After persistent requests, he gave me a check for 100USD. When I went to the bank to cash it, I was told I could not.

I had gathered clothes and toys for the IDP children which were to arrive as cargo on Qatar airways. When the boxes arrived, mr. Pertet went to the airport and collected them without me. He came back with a claim of 30000KSH for airport charges and accepted the 13000 that I had on me at the time, promising the receipts would be given to me the next day. He took the donations with him for safekeeping. I, as a former airline employee, contacted the airline and handling company, and found out that the airport charges were only 5000Ksh.

I decided to remove myself from this organization and mr.Pertet, and asked for the boxes back. He avoided me with a variety of excuses until I personally went to the offices and took them. They had been opened and things were missing. He told me he didn’t have them, but that police officers were ‘keeping them for the organization’ and that is why they had been opened. I have been asking him for the receipts from the airport and he has not been able to provide any.

Since I made it clear that I believe he is a fraud, he has repeatedly threatened me that he will call the police and his contacts and that I will pay for accusing him. I looked into the US address given as the headquarters of this Organization and found that it is in fact, a house in a suburb. When I called the headquarters, an elderly lady answered the phone. This is the link to the address:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=el&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&hs=1Lp&q=1954,+Chathamoor+Drive,+Orlando,+Florida&lr=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=1954+Chathamoor+Dr,+Orlando,+FL+32835&ei=jnTMSoiRGsj84AbEgdH2BQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1

The alleged President of this organization is named Isabel Davis. I have only had contact with her through e-mail, I now believe these e-mails to have been sent by mr.Pertet himself. The site is www.waltzvolunteer.org All the board members stated in the site, I have found are either members of the Davis family, or previous volunteers. I must add that the volunteers are staying in Nairobi, in a ‘volunteer house’. They have told me that very often, there is nothing to eat in the house. They frequently go shopping for groceries although they have pre-paid the organization for their meals. Not to mention the rats, roaches and ants that infest that house.

My concern is not for the money that I have lost, but for the safety of the other volunteers here at the moment, and most importantly of the fact that more volunteers will continue to come to Kenya under this man’s control. Most of the volunteers are of young ages and vulnerable.

This post was submitted by Irene.