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SECURITY NOTIFICATION - 19th May 2005

As you may or may not have seen on the news, local variations of a popular "phishing scam" have started to surface.
Typically, you will receive an email that appears to have come from one of the banks (we have seen versions of this scam supposedly from FNB and Standard Bank), and will request you to click on a link to a website to verify your banking details. The website will look very professional, and appear to be the official website of the institution concerned. What in fact happens though is that you are submitting your personal banking details to an unknown scammer.
DO NOT respond to any emails that request your personal or banking details.
Please direct any queries you have in this regard to your local bank.
This notice is issued by PE Church Net as a service to the local community ..... (posted 19 May 2005) 

READER BEWARE: INFAMOUS SPAM TARGETING CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS

If you've been online for more than a few months, you've probably received your fair share of unsolicited email. In recent months, an infamous West African spam has changed its tactics to appeal specifically to Christian organizations with bogus promises of large donations. The offer, like most spam, is nothing but a scam; but the clever use of "Christianese" keywords and phrases makes it easy for unsuspecting recipients to mistake it as a genuine plea from a fellow Christian. For more info on this modified version of the "419" fraud, see the Web site below. Details of the 419 scam: http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm

(Copyright 2003 Gospel Communications International, Inc., (http://www.gospelcom.net/gci/) ..... (posted 25 Feb 2003) 

DON'T FALL FOR THIS SCAM !

Update 8th May 2002

It has been highlighted once again and we have had several requests to draw your attention to a prevalent ongoing scam. No doubt most of you have received emails from Nigeria and elswhere in Africa seeking your "confidential assistance" in moving large sums of money out of the country. For your involvement you are offered a commission amounting to several million $US. There are an endless number of variations on this theme, but more troubling is a variation addressed to churches and ministries purporting to offer large inheritances bequeathed to your ministry. BE WARNED : THESE ARE DANGEROUS SCAMS - DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN REPLY TO THE EMAIL. There are numerous cases reported of individuals around the world who have lost large sums of money, and have even been kidnapped or murdered while pursuing these claims. These are very serious frauds, typically called the "419" scam or the "Nigerian Scam", conducted by extremely professional criminals.

 
WARNING TO ALL PASTORS/MISSIONARIES IN THE MINISTRY!!!!

I would like to bring the following to the attention of all the Christians who are subscribed to PE Church Net.

I only found out a few weeks ago about this "scam" that is going on. Apparently a few pastors/missionaries, including myself, have already received letters from a lady/ladies who would want to donate their "inheritance/s" to people in the ministry, because she/they are very sick and because she/they only got saved recently and would like to donate the money to the work of the Lord. This person writes a very spiritual letter and one would really assume that she has been saved. She also forwards a copy of a certificate as proof that money has been deposited in a vault in Amsterdam or even in Lome, West Togo. This woman even forwarded a copy of a passport to prove that this is her and that everything is legitimate. All she wants is a small amount of the money that was deposited in the vault, just to pay for her medical bills and to settle and live a quiet life.

All that is required of you is to pay the money towards the stamp duties and release fees to get the money out of this vault. This money has to be paid to a man in Amsterdam, who will then assist you to collect the money out of the vault.

I felt in my spirit that I had to go to investigate if this is really true or not. The Lord provided money for me to travel to Amsterdam, because I live in faith and I did not have the money to go. I kept these people under the impression that I have got the amount that was needed to get the money released. When I got to Amsterdam, all of a sudden the original certificate had been stolen!!!! Still I kept my pose and went ahead to meet the rest of the people involved. I just want to praise the Lord for protecting me and for bringing me home safely. Only when I met the rest of the people involved, did I know for sure that this "scam" has been going on for some time already and that these people have done this before. They are all Muslims!!!

It has also come to my attention that they must have got my e-mail address from the PE Churchnet website, because this lady could not or did not really want to tell me where she got my address from. She said she prayed and fasted for 3 days and then the Lord showed her my address while she was surfing on the net. Please put out a warning to all the people in ministry to be on the look out for these type of letters and to be very carefull not to get involved in it. This is a rip off!!!

If there are other ministries who are not on the PE Churchnet website, but whom you know of nationally, please send this info to them as well. If people would like to ask me any other questions, they can contact me on my e-mail address: warfare@kingdom.co.za

God bless
James Lottering ...... (posted Monday 13th August 2001)