An S.F. icon got scammed out of his life savings. He’s speaking out now as a warning to others – San Francisco Chronicle

On the walls of his apartment at an assisted living center on Sutter Street hangs a giant “Brokeback Mountain” movie poster alongside framed commendations from a host of gay politicians and straight allies praising his decades of advocacy and charitable work for LGBTQ causes.

Now Robinson, 87, finds himself at the center of another major story, but this one feels just plain sad.

Robinson fell prey to a phishing scam, losing $190,000, most of his life’s savings scraped together from years of mixing drinks and trimming hair. In an interview at his assisted living center, Robinson said he feels embarrassed and stupid, but that he’s sharing his story as a warning to others.

Where to get help

San Francisco’s Adult Protective Services runs a hotline that can help seniors and their family members navigate these types of issues: (415) 355-6700

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I wanted to write about it as a reminder of what the city’s elders have contributed to San Francisco — and to share that his friends and family are trying to get the word out about Robinson’s dire financial straits. His nephew created a Go Fund Me to help.

“I worked hard all my life and to lose it is really tragic,” Robinson said. “You never think in life someone would do something like this, but they do.”

The ploy began months ago when someone posing as an old friend named Gary Derose messaged Robinson on Facebook. Robinson remembered cutting Derose’s hair decades ago and was delighted to reconnect.

The scammer with the fake account told Robinson that he’d stumbled on a way to make quick cash, using the Lions Club International name to make it sound more legitimate, and said he didn’t want his old buddy to miss out on the opportunity. The Lions Club released a statement last year warning people that scammers were falsely using its name to swindle people.

If Robinson gave $10,000, the fake Derose said, he’d receive many times that amount back — and Robinson said he decided he’d raise the money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital to benefit kids with cancer.

The fake Derose introduced Robinson to “Michael” who could explain everything. First, Michael asked Robinson to mail gift cards, which he did. Then the requests came for $10,000 in cash to be shipped via Fed Ex to an address in South Carolina, but something always went wrong with the Fed Ex truck. First, Michael said, it was in an accident. Then it was stopped by the police. The truck and money never arrived, he claimed. Robinson needed to send more money — and more and more.

Robinson showed me his long exchange with “Michael,” though Michael’s half of the conversation no longer exists, suggesting the scammer deleted his Facebook account. Sometimes Robinson messaged the amount he was sending and the package’s shipping number. Other times, he expressed confusion.

“I don’t have a lot of money and so, I don’t know, it scares me when I go to take money out in cash,” he wrote.

Eventually, Robinson burned through nearly all of his savings and confessed what had happened to his nephew, Will Prater. Prater flew from Atlanta and helped his uncle sell his car, get rid of cable TV and craft a new monthly budget. With a small mutual fund and Social Security payments, Robinson can pay his rent, but there’s nothing left over.

“Robbie just fell for it hook, link and sinker,” Prater told me on the phone from Atlanta.

Prater saw the entire message exchange and said the scammer used religious language, complimented Robinson profusely and offered at times to split the cost of the new payments with him.

“Their technique is to create a bond or a relationship,” Prater said. “Robbie is like a lot of seniors, lonely and isolated and somebody’s having a conversation with him.”

Prater said he and Robinson are working to get Prater power of attorney over his finances and that they’ve contacted the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department. Both agencies told Prater and Robinson that scamming is a giant industry; a report from Truecaller, which makes caller ID and spam blocking software, found that Americans lost $39.5 billion to phone scams last year and that 1 in 4 Americans have fallen victim to scams.

A spokesperson with the SFPD said officers visited Robinson to learn his story, and the department’s financial crimes unit is investigating the case, but no arrests have been made. Chief Bill Scott called it “an awful financial crime committed by predators who took advantage of an elderly victim.” The department added that the perpetrators are often out of state or even out of the country and use intermediaries to transport the cash taken from victims.

Alan Castel, a UCLA psychology professor and author of “Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging,” said seniors — and anybody of any age — should ignore messages that emphasize urgency, scarcity and authority. That could mean calling something a limited time offer or saying only a few lucky people qualify or implying the person will be in trouble if they don’t cooperate.

He added scammers are increasingly gleaning enough information on social media to create messages that seem real or to pretend to be someone’s friend. He said ignoring the messages is best, but asking for more time or more information is also a good idea. Running the messages by friends and family is also smart, he said.

If there’s a silver lining to Robinson’s sad loss, it’s that the city’s LGBTQ community is rallying around their friend and elder, giving money and sharing the Go Fund Me.

“He’s the truest, strongest, most wonderful, friendliest and do-right kind of guy you’ll ever meet,” said Cisneros.

State Sen. Scott Wiener called him “an institution, an icon.” The drag performer Donna Sachet, who’s socialized with Robinson in Castro bars for 15 years, said, “We need people like him who are not just observing, but jumping in and helping out and supporting in whatever way they could.”

Robinson grew up in a poor family in western Virginia in a home with no toilet or running water. He joined the Air Force before being honorably discharged and settling in San Francisco, working in a string of gay bars on Polk Street.

He was close friends with Jose Sarria, the drag queen who famously crooned “God Save Us Nelly Queens” at the Black Cat and who ran for the Board of Supervisors in 1961 as the first openly gay candidate for public office in the country. Robinson also featured prominently in the Chronicle’s “Doodler” podcast about the serial killer who targeted gay men in bars and knew one of the assailant’s victims.

“Those were cruel times, and he came through it so beautifully,” Leno said. “He’s a survivor, a dignified survivor.”

Dufty called Robinson “this handsome, swashbuckling Polk Street bartender at the dawn of the LGBT movement” and said it’s tragic he was scammed.

“If everybody helps just a little bit, I think it could change the arc of Robbie’s chapter in life,” Dufty said.

Robinson said he just wants other seniors to be on alert. Toward the end of our conversation, he leaned across the table and said in a hushed voice, “I have to tell you something.”

The day before, he said, he’d received another Facebook message from someone posing as another old friend with an unbelievable financial offer. He didn’t fall for it.

“You’ve been dead for five years!” he wrote back, howling with laughter as he told me. This time, the scammer didn’t reply.

Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf