OAKLAND — Since last year, a simple scam involving a man pretending to be a local rap artist has netted at least $75,000 from dozens of unsuspecting victims, according to police.
But now, authorities believe they’ve found the culprit, though they’ve also collected evidence that more than one person was involved. Alameda County prosecutors have charged 25-year-old Deveion Bundah with six felonies related to grand theft, obtaining money by false pretenses and wire fraud, court records show.
Bundah, who has addresses in Berkeley and Suisun City, was identified as a man who would approach people around Lake Merritt and lighten their digital wallets. Police say he started by asking them to take a picture of him with his cellphone then introduced himself as a local rapper who’d soon be performing. He would then offer to search himself on Spotify or Instagram so they could listen to his music, but instead Venmo himself $3,000, according to court records.
Some victims didn’t notice the thefts for several weeks, authorities said. Others reported them the same day. But the victims’ descriptions varied so wildly that it begs the question of whether one person was really solely responsible.
Some described the scammer as a man in his 20s, others as a man in his 30s. Some said he was around 5′ 8″, others remembered him being as tall as 6′ 4″, according to court records. At least one victim failed to identify Bundah from a photo lineup, authorities said.
But police say Bundah was identified through a search of the Venmo transactions, which led back to him. They also arrested an ex-girlfriend on suspicion of participating in the scam, and she told them he had worked a rapper impersonation scam in Oakland and San Francisco, and that others were involved, according to court records.
Bundah has been released from jail while the case is pending, but Judge Roz Silvaggio ordered him to stay away fro Lake Merritt BART, according to court records.
Police in Albany are investigating a similar scam involving someone who claimed to be a DJ and asked to enter his information into the victim’s phones, but authorities haven’t indicated that the two investigations are connected.
In 2024, Bundah pleaded no contest to pandering in a case involving the trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. He was 23 at the time and claimed he believed the girl was actually 19. When authorities queried what became of the prostitution proceeds, Bundah said the cops were too late to claim any of it — he’d spent it all on marijuana and smoked it up, according to court records.