Contact: Ron Keener, Church Executive, 800-541-2670 ext 204
 
MEDIA ADVISORY, March 2, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Churches and their members are all too vulnerable to con men and "scamsters," and those who prey on them are like "wolves" in the midst of lambs. They know how to work the flock.
 
"Scam artists who want to fleece a church flock know that attracting the shepherd will always lead to success," writes Pat Huddleston, formerly with the enforcement division of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, now in private practice. He writes about it in the March issue of Church Executive, a business magazine for larger and megachurches.

"At the very least, the scam artist hopes that a warm relationship with the pastor, even if he does not invest, will lead him to vouch for the honesty and trustworthiness of the scamster when members of the congregation ask the pastor's opinion," Huddleston says.

"At a megachurch," says Huddleston, "you can never predict from which corner of a fellowship an investment scam will spring. Equipping everyone to recognize the warning signs is the most effective path to catching a scam early and limiting the damage. Gullibility is the chief contributor to fraud, (and) church leadership can save the flock from the wolves in their midst."

In a second article on the theme, James Quiggle talks about "Unholy church leaders launch hellish insurance cons." Quiggle, with the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, cites example after example of pastors, church staff, and volunteers who have embezzled funds from churches, with some cases going well above one million dollars.

One pastor "insisted insurance fraud was his spiritual calling," Quiggle says. "But he rendered unto Caesar four and a half years in prison for raking in $500,000 in insurance money by staging nearly 200 car accidents, plus fake slip-and-fall injuries in hotels and retail stores."

One man recruited parishioners and even his brother, also a minister, to participate. "Many cars crashed, ran off the road or collided with deer or pedestrians, his gang lied to insurers. Cronies claimed they were hurt in four crashes on the same day," Quiggle says.

Reports of embezzlement by church secretaries, volunteer treasurers, and pastors happen nearly every week, and those are just the ones that are reported. One pastor put his church on fire for the insurance money, and when the first attempt didn't produce enough damage, he lit another fire to finish the job.

Read about this concern in March's Church Executive here.