Be Aware of Scammers!

Ravae Sinclair, a co-host of the Doula That podcast, shares her experience of being scammed by Augustine Colebrook, who promised a retreat for birth workers. Ravae paid $1,400 for a retreat scheduled for November 2024, but it was changed to February 2025, which was unacceptable. Despite multiple requests for a refund, Colebrook delayed and eventually took an additional $600 without authorization. Ravae emphasizes the importance of being informed consumers, using business credit cards for transactions, and the need for clear communication from service providers. She urges others to be cautious and to support her in recovering her money.

Ravae Sinclair @birthconnections @natlbirthpostpartumpros

Augustine Colebrook @artofbirthing @midwiferywisdom

Youtube:https://youtu.be/535CkMmvlgs?si=uCPE37UE6u1vyNv-

Outline

Scammers in the Birth Space

• Ravae Sinclair introduces herself and the topic of scammers in the birth space.
• She mentions that she and her co-host Denise have been impacted by scammers, with her matter still unresolved.
• Ravae emphasizes that it's important to speak out if one has been scammed to prevent others from falling victim.
• She encourages birth workers not to feel shame if they have been scammed, as it's not their fault.

The Scam Story Begins

• Ravae shares a story about planning to attend a retreat with her co-host Denise, inspired by a promotional ad.
• They made payments from January to June, expecting a retreat in November, but received no updates or communication.
• In July, they learned the conference in New Orleans had changed to virtual, raising suspicions about the retreat.
• The retreat dates were later changed to February 2025, which was unacceptable for Ravae due to her schedule and client commitments.

Attempts to Get a Refund

• Ravae and Denise reached out to Augustine Colebrook, the organizer, requesting a refund due to the significant date change.
• Augustine agreed to the refund but delayed it, initially saying it would be at the end of November.
• Denise's company was able to get provisional credit back on her credit card, but Ravae's payments were made through a business debit card, making it harder to challenge.
• Despite multiple emails and requests, Augustine did not provide the refund or communicate effectively.

The Scam Escalates

• In October, Ravae discovered an unauthorized $600 charge from Augustine, under a different business name.
• She had to cancel her debit card to prevent further unauthorized charges.
• Ravae expressed deep disappointment and frustration, especially seeing Augustine's social media posts about her activities in Bali while not returning the money.
• She emphasized the importance of being an informed consumer and the need for better communication and transparency from service providers.

Final Plea and Lessons Learned

• Ravae urged listeners to be cautious and informed when making purchases, especially in the birth space.
• She shared her frustration and the emotional toll of being scammed, especially by someone who claimed to be an ally.
• Ravae highlighted the importance of having a business credit card for transactions to have advocacy and protection.
• She called on listeners to support her in getting her money back and to be vigilant about who they do business with.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

scammers awareness, birth space, financial loss, unauthorized charges, refund request, communication breakdown, business credit, chargeback process, informed consumer, midwifery wisdom, Augustine Colebrook, black birth workers, small business issues, social media highlights, consumer protection

SPEAKERS

Ravae Sinclair

Ravae Sinclair

Ravae, well, hello everyone. My name is Ravae Sinclair, and I am one of the hosts of doula that podcast. And today I am here to help you doula that specifically I'm coming to you on solo Today I'm coming to you to to talk with you about something that impacted actually, it impacted Denise and I the other co hosts, but she has seemed to resolve her matter. So I'm coming to you solo, because My matter is not resolved. And I think you should know a few things. Today we are talking about scammers. Now you know we're in this birth space. And you know, between the online world and an unregulated birth world, you're going to a time or to have some money taken, perhaps by people who are less than honest and don't always have your best interest in mind. There's opportunities to take everywhere, and sometimes, as a birth worker, you may find that you are in that pool haven't been taken. So I have come. I'm coming to you as a person who was taken. I was taken for about $2,000 now let me say this tip number one, have no shame if you've been taken advantage of and somebody stolen from you, I want to encourage you to not feel shame about it, but to shout it out. I'm shouting it out today. Okay? I think you should shout it out one because generally, you might have have done everything to protect yourself, but I'm gonna say, if you went into a situation expecting to get a product or a service well intended, then you haven't done anything wrong, and so you have nothing to feel ashamed about. The shame is on the people who do the taking. So I'm going to tell you a little story today about someone who is active in the birth world. I'm going to name names because I think you should know. I think consumers need to know. And midwifery students, midwives, doulas, those are her birth workers in general, are her target audience. And so because you we share the same target audience. I may save some of you from being taken to the bank. Okay, so it's story time. So I had a really great idea, and I pulled in my co host, Denise Bowles. I pulled her in to say, let's be more thoughtful next year. When we get to the end of the year, let's take a break. I saw this ad. I saw a promotion on a website of someone who seemed to be doing conferences and skills and drills and doing all this great stuff. And I'm like, Hey, let's take some time at the end of next year and go on a retreat. Like, let's not work ourselves to the bone, get to the end of the year, start having to think about like grinding from the next year and setting goals and doing vision boards. No, no, let's not do that. Let's take a moment to rest. And the beauty of the timing of this was it was supposed to be next week, the middle of November, we would have gone on our trip and then come home, and you know, which is typically at that time, the start of the holiday season. So we would have taken our break before other people had taken their break, which would have given us a chance to even deepen our rest. And you know, I'm here for black women resting. And so we made a whole plan, and so we signed up. And thankfully, because I know a thing or two about needing receipts, I screenshot, you know, the website, and I was a little disappointed. I got a financial receipt back for the deposit, but I actually didn't get, like, a contract, like, you know, to say what we had set agreed to. Nevertheless, I got my screenshots, and so we have the dates, and we were very happy. Payments happened in January, February, March and April and May, June, we get to July, and I'm thinking, hey, we haven't heard anything about this retreat. No updates, no nothing. And so Denise says, Yeah, you're right. I guess we have it. And so it was kind of on our radar, but it's the summertime. We're doing some other things, and then we get an announcement. And I'm thinking the announcement came in early August, late July. I'm not exactly sure, but a payment had already come out of my account in early July. So it seems like maybe the end of July, early August, we got an announcement that the conference that was supposed to happen in New Orleans changed to virtual. And I I saw that, and I said, Hmm, something's up with that. And I figured that it was probably low enrollment, right? Because, you know, you've got to meet all these minimums when you're at a hotel and conference center. So I thought, Okay. Okay, in a conversation with Denise, I mentioned it, and I said, I wonder if that's going to affect the retreat, because the way was scheduled, there was supposed to be the conference, and then a week of skills and drills and or a couple days of skills and drills. I can't imagine. I can't remember the exact time frame, but then a trip to Belize, a retreat to Belize with birth workers. And I thought, Okay, this is going to be great, but when I saw that the conference had changed to virtual, I thought, I wonder if that's going to impact the the retreat to Belize. So Denise said, man, you're right. I wonder. We both went on. We had lots going on, right? So we kind of went on, and a couple days went by before. I can't remember Denise saw it, or if I saw it, but at any rate, I went to the website and I saw that the conference date had been changed on the website. I think it was me that found it. So it went from middle of November, it had the dates change on the website to February 2025, well, there's a big difference between having 10 months to plan to be away from your business, away from clients, not taking clients, planning your money, getting plane tickets and things like that. There's one thing to be planning for November 2024, and a very different thing to be planning for February 2025, so for one, I have clients in February for two this is that's just a terrible time for me to travel. And of course, besides being disappointed about the change in the travel dates, I was disappointed that she didn't even notify us. And then that's when I realized, oh my gosh, she hasn't communicated with us at all, like we've been making payments since January. It's August we haven't heard anything. Okay, so that started the ball rolling. Denise emailed her. Oh, by the way, let me tell you the person's name been holding out on you. But some of you, if you're in the birth world and you're active, you may have figured it out the midwives name is Augustine Colebrook. And let me, let me emphasize that before I go on with the story, I have been watching Augustine because she had a conference out in Colorado. People were so happy. It was, like, one of the first in person conferences after the pandemic. And so people were really excited. They were like, it was amazing. So I've been watching her, and she's a great storyteller, right? Very empathetic. You can hear her, her trauma, her sadness around her family. She doesn't really stay in contact with her family. There's all these things that, you know, make her, you know, somewhat endearing, and people feel connected. And so she's in India now working on a birth center, and, you know, giving all these beautiful highlights. And I think that's great, except, guess what? She took our money and hasn't given it back. Now, this is a conversation that we're having. Remember August, September, about a trip that's supposed to happen in November. So when she changed the dates, I was entitled to a refund, even though the initial language said non refundable. Well, when you change materially change the contract, even if it's a verbal agreement, I all bets are off. She made the change she broke, wrote the contract. I'm entitled to my money back, so we requested the money. Denise did by email. I did as well. Now I'm going to kind of stick to what I did. Since Denise is in here, she has a very different experience than I and there's some lessons I want to share with you about that. But I emailed her and said, Hey, here's a screenshot. You change the date. This is unacceptable. I'm not available. I want my money back. I'm formally requesting and writing my money back. She agreed. She never debated whether I should get my refund. She agreed. She went on to ask me how I wanted, what, what platform I wanted to receive my refund. She specifically said, Do you want it back by PayPal or Zelle? I chose Zelle. I emailed her two or three more times to say, Well, okay, so a couple days ago, you told me you would give me my refund. I confirmed to you that I wanted it through Zelle. When is it coming? When can I expect it now she didn't answer the question initially, and she was having some correspondence with Denise that I'll dip into just a little bit here in a moment, but I specifically said, I want a date. When she did come back to me about a date, she said, I hope to be able to give you the money at the end of November. It's August, September. What are you talking about? The end of November, that's even after the trip was supposed to happen. So you don't have my money. Now, I knew she didn't have my money because of the correspondence she was having with Denise. Now, so I'll insert some of Denise's stuff just a bit here. So Denise had corresponded with her and said, I expect my money to be in the account in the next 48 hours, or 72 hours. I can't remember the time frame. And Augustine replied and said, Well, that's not going to happen. I'm running a business, and I have to pay my employees like and or unless you want me to pay you, I'll. Have to close my business, and I'll file bankruptcy, and you it'll take years for you to get your money. What you're threatening bankruptcy. You won't give me back my money that I freely gave you for a retreat, and now you're telling me I'm not a priority because you need to pay your employees or and you're threatening bankruptcy. Unacceptable, totally unacceptable, and really a rookie move for her to put that in writing like that. Denise, thankfully, this is a lesson she paid for her trip on her American Express card. So she did it on a business credit card, which then allowed her company, credit card company to be an advocate for her, and they gave her provisional credit back on her credit card. So she got her money replaced. I paid for through my business debit card, which meant that money came out of my operating bank account. Well, charges that are old. You can't you only have a certain time frame by which you can ask for. You can challenge a charge. So a January, February, March, April, May. Charge was too late for me to challenge. Okay, so I didn't do my challenge right away, because I was like, well, maybe she'll just give the money. She'll be a good human So I replied to her, and I said, Listen, I'm a black birth worker, small business owner, single person. I'm doing this all by myself. I need my money if you are not going to make good on your promise to give us a retreat in November, I need my money back. So she didn't respond, okay, so I'm sitting here like, wow, like she's really taking my money. So we're watching her social media, and we're seeing, Oh, this celebration of the birth center. This is going great, and we know that on social media, people do the highlights, but behind the scenes, I'm like, Is she serious? Okay, so I have a lot going on, busy, busy life, and I'm like, just, I have this dread. And I was like, let me just watch and see what she does. Surely she's going to give us our money back. Well, I watched this chargeback process with Denise, where I don't think she challenged it, but she at least not acknowledged that the chargeback was being processed. And so I'm like, okay, maybe she understands that we mean business, that we're serious. She's going to give us our money back. Give me my money back. Nothing. Crickets, so I let a couple weeks go by and I'm like, Hey, I actually need my money. Like, are you listening? Are you really not going to reply to me? Crickets, nothing. So fast forward. I so one of the things that I did, so this is part of the lesson I did pay for this trip on a business debit card, and so when I stopped authorizing the transactions, one of the mistakes I made was I didn't I should have stopped the any future payments from being able to come through, but I didn't imagine in any world that she would try to take more money. And yes, folks, two months later after the last transaction in July, so she didn't take a payment in August, she didn't take a payment in September. She wasn't authorized. I look up in early October to a $600 charge coming out of my bank account. So I'm working with my bank, and they're saying, Well, okay, two things come up. This, this next, this, 60 day later, charge is under a different business name, so she's playing games, but now I have to cancel the debit card, to stop all transactions, to make sure that even if she doesn't, if she's blocked under midwifery wisdom collective, she still now can't also do a charge under another business, which is what she was able to do, because I didn't cancel the card. I didn't think, I didn't think she would try to take more money. For God's sake, not only you're not giving me the money that you already took at the time that I requested the refund, but you take more like this is just unconscionable, and she did the same thing to Denise again. Denise's company was able to advocate for her and give her provisional credit, but it's the fact that we have to spend time fighting to keep our money from someone who's not entitled to it, but she had the nerve Yes, after 60 days to take another $600 out of my account, and when I emailed her about that silence, Well, folks, you gotta imagine my deep disappointment, to be really honest, like a deep disappointment and sadness and frustration, to look up a week later and see that she's on a month long trip to Bali, living her best life, swimming right now today, this episode is going to come out, and you can go to her social media and see her. Are swimming and diving and simultaneously asking you all for money to attend her conference. She wants your money to attend a conference that is now virtual, and yet she's got two black birth workers that she's stealing money from, holding on to their money, not giving money back for no reason. She's collecting and then also taking unauthorized so I'm going to actually call it what it is, which is stealing and not communicating. It's one thing if you said I don't have it, but I will do my best. Let's make payments. I probably would have accepted that, even though that's unacceptable, but I probably would have accepted that. She said nothing knows good and well. She owes us money and is living her best life doing whatever she wants. So I'm going to put that in the category. If this is not a mistake, after she you take an additional $600 I'm going to say that is intentional. So that is stealing, and my being diplomatic is over. Thus I'm coming to you all. I'm coming to you all to make sure that you know who you're buying from, who you're buying services from. I know as midweek students, it's hard to find places where you can get skills and drills and do all of that, and people need CEUs and credits. But I just want you to be an informed consumer. I want you to think about who you're buying from. I don't have any skin in the game. I don't even know this woman really. I was just trying to take a retreat, trying to take a vacation, and my God, if people don't understand how black women need to rest, have you not been paying attention? Yeah. Okay. I'm frustrated that I'm did what I was supposed to do, communicated, did nothing wrong, and I'm having $2,000 taken from me, and it's just wrong. And so if you're thinking about going to midwifery wisdom collective anything in the next few months, if you're thinking about giving Augustine Colebrook your money, I want you to rethink it. I want you to rethink it, because when people, when you give people money for a service, they should communicate with you about when you're going to get the service, and if you're not going to get the service, when are you going to get your refund? Now I'm a birth worker, I'm an agency owner. I'm dealing with that now with clients who want who didn't, maybe get the service that they wanted. I'm like, Okay, well, what like? Let's come to an agreement about a refund. There is, and should be constant communication until you get to resolution. That is the respectful thing to do. Understand, small businesses have cash flow issues. I get it like, trust me, I get it. I have teams in four different cities. I get it. And like I said, I'm independent, no bank loans, no credit card. I'm not doing any I'm doing all this on cash, which is one of the mistakes. So when y'all one of the lessons when you do this, do it on a credit card. Have advocacy so that you can get help when you need it. Have lawyers on your team. Have people who will help you recover money when people steal from you, because you because you stay in business long enough people will steal money from you. Now, I hadn't really had this happen because I have a lot of checks and balances in my system. But trust me, nobody, I'm not going to get caught with this like this again, you can bet that. So here we are, folks. I just wanted to be able to give people a chance to understand who they're doing business with. Give people a chance to maybe change their minds and say, Hey, I'm going to stand in solidarity with another birth worker that you until you do right by her, I'm not going to do business with you. I think people should know. I think people should know. And Augustine, if you want to have a conversation, my inbox has been open for weeks, two months, to be exact. I'm happy to hear what you want to do to give me the rest of my money back. Now, here's the other thing you all I then, having worked with my bank about the the $600 that totally was clearly not authorized, also under a new business name, they were able to do a chargeback process, and were able to help me do a chargeback process for the June and July charge. So I may be in a position takes 3045, days. I may be in a position to get $1,000 back, but by force, she's not giving me my money willingly, and even after that, she'll still owe me $1,000 which, who knows if I'll ever get it. It's frustrating, and I have a lot of emotion, and I'm not, you know, I'm not even displaying the sadness and the dismay, but trust me, it's there. I'm pissed. I am really so tired of working hard in partnership with people who call themselves allies and getting screwed. So some of you know my story, my journey with Don International, and having worked as a. Volunteer full time hours for no pay and being dismissed unceremoniously on the first day of black maternal health week, along with Denise folds, who was the president at the time, I that knowing that that's part of my history, my story, I have no bandwidth for the shenanigans that happen to black women in this birth space. So this would have been painful if anybody had done it. It is extra painful for someone who would call herself and acts like she's an ally. Is super painful. But I will not, let me be clear, I will not give anyone the satisfaction to see tears drop from these eyes, but that doesn't mean that the pain isn't real, and that doesn't mean that I don't deserve my money. So I just again, want to give you some tips to protect yourself from scamming. So think about credit if some of y'all are probably way ahead of the curve, but think about having a business credit card doing these transactions so that you actually have advocates and a built in system to protect you if the project falls through. And I'm going to say I'm I don't even know why it fell through, and I don't care. It doesn't matter. I'm not even judging her for that. The issue is that when it fell through, she did not communicate with us. We had to find out, we had to, we had to reach out to her. There are other people who this has happened to. So if you all are listening, I would love to hear what your experience has been with this, because mine has been fairly cruddy. I wonder if the other three people, she mentioned that there were five people signed up. So I'm wondering if the other three people got their money back, and I'm just at the bottom of the list, or not making the list at all, I wonder. But we had to find out. We had to reach out. And now she's gone silent. And then on top of that, after 60 days of knowing that we want a refund, she intentionally the transaction is under a new business name, and $600 more comes out of the bank account. It just feels like I can't give I can't keep giving you the benefit of the doubt. I can't keep acting like this is on an accident and I'm not even hearing I'm not even accepting that, hey, my team or was an automatic recurring transaction, because they don't skip two months got skipped, so that that's not what happens, and you can't blame it on your team. I've been corresponding directly with Augustine. She knows the deal. So if you knew that to cancel all recurring transactions should have been canceled, everything should have been handled. And she also knew that we weren't playing games with our money because Denise did a chargeback. Now I don't know if she knows that we know each other, but at any rate, all of this is unacceptable. So I just want you all to be informed consumers. You ask, you know you're signing up for that conference. She's heavy in the in the promotions, and, you know, celebrating her birthday in Bali, good for her, because I'm not able to take my restful retreat that I paid for that sounds like it's probably paying for her Bali trip now, and it just, you know, insult to injury two days after this election. That's all I gotta say. So protect yourselves. You guys. Think about ways that you can make sure that something is legit, that people are reliable and trustworthy with your investment, I'm like everybody else. I work very hard for my money, and I don't deserve for somebody to just take it and go off to Bali. It's not how this works. So be an informed consumer, be a conscientious consumer, and think, think about how you can protest, how you can support me and getting my money back. Maybe you can raise your voice. Maybe you can talk to her if you're her friend. Maybe you can bring this to the forefront if you are a part of a community that she belongs to. Because this y'all, it ain't right, and I also keep receipts. So be careful, be mindful, and if you have a moment, send up a little prayer that she makes it right. It would be really great to get my money back. It sure would all right. Everybody that's all for this episode of doula that I hope that you never find yourself in this situation. But we know this happens. Denise and I have talked about other scenarios in the birth world, and we're probably going to talk more explicitly about them, because I have now decided we're naming names. So join us for future episodes where you can learn how to better. Do love that. Okay? Everybody see you next time.