WHEN TO USE YOUR GUT!!!!

In  a mail sent to the Tangaza fraternity by the principal on how to avoid being scammed. 

I found it very interesting and captivating. 

Scam  artists will use any tactic to get into your pockets any means necessary even though it may look genuine and gentle. 

Check his way out of it!!

Dear everyone,

Recently I narrowly avoided being scammed. Since a similar scam attempt was made on Fr. Eamonn some time ago, I thought it might be helpful to alert the Tangaza community, in case Tangaza members are being targeted.

Basically, it worked like this: When I returned from the USA there was a special delivery envelope waiting, with an authentic-looking check for $5,800 made out to me, allegedly from a “Sr. Jennifer Bragg, GNSH.” The accompanying letter said that she knew me from my time in Washington, DC. She requested that I cash the check and give the money to a friend of hers, Mr. Isaac Lilungu whose wife desperately needed surgery. (The reason she gave for not doing this herself was that she was in southern Sudan with little access to banks, email, etc.)

Because I had received some check donations for the Kenyan Carmelites while I was in the USA, I wasn’t overly suspicious at first, and I gave the check to our bank for processing. They said it would take until August 27 to clear. Meanwhile, “Mr. Isaac” began calling to ask if I could give him an advance until the check was cleared, because the situation with his wife was so serious.

On a hunch, however, I contacted the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart (GNSH), and they responded that they have no member named “Jennifer Bragg” and no one working in Sudan. Then other details of the story also began falling apart.

To make a long story short, of course the check did not clear and it turned out the checking account in the name of “Jennifer Bragg” was closed. Luckily, I hadn’t advanced any money to “Mr. Isaac.”

Probably all of you would have realised it was a scam sooner than I did. But I just wanted to warn you of this “confidence scheme,” in case you get a similar check allegedly from a religious, with the request that it be cashed and the money given to someone needy. (The way it works, I presume, is that the scam artists hope the victim will give them the cash amount written on the check – because of what they claim is an urgent need -- before the victim discovers that it is a bad check; then the scam artists disappear and the victim won’t be able to recover the money.)

Fraternally,

Fr. Steven Payne, OCD

Principal, Tangaza College

P.S. I gave all of the contact information to the bank, which is trying to track down the scam artist.