Welp, it happened. Instagram influencer, podcaster, and Sprinkle of Jesus app developer Dana Chanel has agreed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to clients who accused her of scamming them with credit repair and other services that she promoted but never delivered. Former Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed the lawsuit against the spiritual flim-flammer in November 2021.
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According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chanel, born Casey Olivera, reached a settlement with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office that puts her on the hook for more than $87,000 in restitution payments to dozens of customers who said they paid their hard-earned money for the “Christian” influencer’s services but got what they paid for. (Basically, Chanel’s customers were like: “Sis, just because you be preaching doesn’t mean we were paying tithes. Give me my money back!”)
“Advertising in today’s world has changed, and people trust personalities they follow online to promote desirable goods,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement. “In these cases, consumers were misled by the influencer and businesses that did not deliver on purchases.”
As previously reported, Chanel was accused of ripping off mostly small Black businesses while claiming those business owners were exactly who she was providing her services to help. Chanel is essentially who we’re talking about when we say, “It be ya’ own people.”
Here are some examples of her fraudulence as reported by the Inquirer:
On her platforms, Olivera, of Sewell, Gloucester County, promoted two businesses, Defendant Credit Exterminators, Inc., a credit repair company, and Alakazam Apps, a mobile app developer, both of which she co-owned with relatives, according to court documents.
But customers of those businesses did not always get what they paid for, state prosecutors said.
Several customers of Defendant Credit Exterminators reported to the state that they paid about $2,000 apiece or more for credit coaching and monitoring, resolution of delinquent credit accounts, and other repair services. According to the complaints, detailed in the state’s lawsuit, they never received the services or a refund.
Alakazam Apps customers, including small-business owners and nonprofit executives, paid up to $2,000 each for the creation of custom apps they never received. One customer said she called the company more than 10 times, according to the lawsuit, but never heard back or got a refund.
Because Chanel violated state consumer protection laws, she can no longer advertise or sell credit repair or mobile app services. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean she’s not still out here selling things that, well, frankly sound like scams.
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For example, the Inquirer reported that she’s promoting a “heavy metal detox spray” which she says she sprays into her own children’s mouths in order to—hell, I don’t know—stop them from repeating Metallica lyrics, or whatever.
Chanel is also promising customers “instant life insurance coverage for as low as $1 dollar per day.” (You know, in case you want to leave your family’s financial security in the hands of the FYRE Festival of credit repair consultants.)
Besides the $87,000 in restitution, Chanel and her two offending companies, which she co-owned with her father and sister, were ordered to pay $31,000 in legal costs, and $6,000 in civil penalties, bringing the grand total to more than $120,000.
Jesus saves—Dana Chanel better hope she did too.
