A good friend of ours at Public Words, a successful public speaker, recently received a speaking inquiry from a prestigious university in the United Kingdom. The request came via email, and there were a number of indications that it wasn’t on the level. The email address was a Gmail account, not the university’s email. The sender purported to be a professor at the school, but there was no record of such a professor in the university’s online database. Of course, he might have been newly appointed, but his command of the English language was so bad that our friend was immediately suspicious.
On further investigation, there was no mention of the conference our friend was supposed to speak at on the university’s website. In addition, there was an unusual request to “get a work permit” from the “British embassy” (via another Gmail account).
All signs seemed to point to fraud. And, in addition, the amount of money offered for speaking was unusually large – the final straw.
My question to everyone is: have you run across anything similar? What’s the point – would the scammer have asked for bank information at a later stage if our friend had continued? If you’ve run across speaker scams like this, please let me know.
My guess is that they are going to ask for some sort of account number to “transfer” money, or that by filling out a “work visa” they would get enough vital information for identity theft.
I just received a similar inquiry from Victory Outreach in the UK. SAme language exactly and same church as noted in a comment below but with different pastor’s name. So they are still running this scam.
I just got a similar scam letter as well. The email makes no sense to me except out of some kinds of infraction motivation.
Just got the same scam.I cldn’t go anyway cuz,of being dead.Whoever they r must think we’re american idiots who wld fall 4 a scam like that.
I have just responded to an invitation to speak in a conference next month at Victory Outreach, sorry about this scam. I just thought of checking who is this Jonathan Rogers- I was suspicious. May the Lord deliver them from the hands of the devil.
However, “… whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached …” (Phil. 1:18).
May the Lord encourage you to keep up the His good work.
Pdt Ken, Kenya.
We just got an invitation to speak at the same church in January. Sounded like a scam!
Just got the same invite for January to speak. I’m so glad I came across this post Lord Bless them.
I got the same garbage from a Pastor Jobathan Rogers Sunday January 24, 2016. Requesting me to be their guest speaker on July 9th to July 11, 2016.
Could not reach them yesterday so I send them an email. Telling them I could not reach them. They email this morning telling me they could not reach me on the number that I provide them
Praise God my husband suggested to Google the area code. My Lord that’s when I see your site thanks. These people is in need of prayers. Lord help them.
I’ve just received the exact same invite in my inbox today. Th exact same pastor’s name and engagement date in July.
I just received an invitation from a Pastor Donald Walsh at Grace Tabernacle Church in London. These people are crazy!!! This is a mess!!
I just received an invitation to preach all the way in London……oh my what a blessing. I was a detective before becoming a pastor and have worked nearly a hundred of these types of oversea scams. They find a niche and ask for a bunch of personal info and then sell it for fake identities. If anyone sends an email invite, without first a phone call, be extremely suspicious, especially if you do not personally know the person inviting you. Think about it, have you ever invited anyone to preach/teach/talk without first knowing who they are and what they stand for.
I received the same invitation. Obviously these folks have no plans on stopping this scam soon. Thank you all for the comments.
Thanks everyone! I received an invite from Donald Walsh in London as well, Grace Tabernacle Church for a July event. LOL, I am just seeing it today. Thinking I missed a grand opportunity, I emailed him apologizing for missing the opportunity and would hope they would invite me again. But it seemed strange so I could not find Walsh or the church on Facebook. Everyone is on social media and then they do have a website but it was not the most informative site so am praising God for these posts. So when they email me again or if they email me I can just ignore them……Blessings!
Must be a recent attempt, I got the invitation from “Victory Outreach Church, UK that others have reported in the last two weeks. This is the second year I’ve received it.
My husband just got the invitation to speak at Victory Church. It came through the “Contact Us” portal on our church website.
Likewise, i.e., I’m glad I read this blog. I just got the email today.
Has anyone contacted Victory Church or the authorities in London to intercept? I think it would be a courtesy to do so and I shall.
Thanks, Jon —
Various respondents on this blog thread and the earlier ones (alas, the scam just keeps going) have both notified Victory Church and the London authorities. It’s difficult to tell, but that may have caused the scam to go quiet for a little while, but it came back again with a vengeance. So by all means do so, and don’t let your guard down!
I got the same invitation yesterday and was suspicious. I found the church’s website and spent half a day convincing myself it was legitimate. I then sent them a message through their contact page explaining things in the email that raised red flags, including the fact that the church’s email address is not the response address I was given. I did not hear back from them today, but after reading all of these responses, I’ll remove the mental note to travel to Wales in June. It was a fun thought while it lasted.
Thanks for letting us know, Mark — sorry the news isn’t good. It does beat the alternative, though!
We received the same message via our contact page on our website as well. It’s sounds so good at first glance but nothing about it feels right. Glad this post is here to warn us.
Well, I just joined the club – I received my invitation today to speak at “Victory Outreach Church, UK”! We google searched the telephone number and came up with this blog! Thank you much, everyone for weighing in. Yes, they are still at it in 2016!
Incredible that they’re still at it. Thanks, Brian, and glad you found us.
I just got this same request today. Grateful others posted their experience.
I just got this same request today. Grateful others posted their experience.
Yes We also had one for us to speak at Victory Church in United Kindgdom!!!
They knew My Dads name and had all the churches email and people incharge becareful we just ignored it.
Yes, I am a speaker and have heard of the UK scam from several people.
Enjoyed your book immensely. Heard about it from Chris Brogan. Read it twice in fact. Especially liked the part about the story archetypes …rags to riches, boy meets girl.
Jeff
I get a scam inquiry about speaking arounf once a year. It’s always is pretty obvious with blatant tipoffs like the ones you mentioned. I hope I’m never duped, but I think I google / research a bit on every speaking inquiry before responding just so I have some background to have a discussion with them. I guess it has the added benefit of scam screening.
Ask at NSA and Speakernet and you will find that variations of this scam have been happening for a long time – perhaps more so in this increasingly internet-connected world.
Thanks to Scott, Jeff, Chris and Kare for the insightful comments. In a way, it’s comforting (but depressing) to know that it’s a common scam. Beware!
We just got an email from Barnabas church, Vicar Kendal about a conference… Then from Edward Smith
President, Event Organizing Committee
St Barnabas Church and finally this:
Usually for payment, you should send checks referring the consular and home office in the United Kingdom, but it will take days and probably more than a week for the Home office to process your check and forward the forms to you need the permit soonest.
But like I have done for other speakers. You will send me the payment fee via money transfer as we have a MoneyGram outlet just opposite our office, ( It is easier for me this way as I have a very busy schedule recently ) and I will make the payment in cash at our PEO and have the form instantly, which I will then send to you to fill and after filling it, You will send the completed form to me as I will be your servicing agent so I will make submission for you and you should get the permit within 5-7 working days.
I will be expecting the scanned copy of your passport and invite letter from the employer (which is the Church) so I can file the application for you, If you can possibly make the permit payment payable on Today, I can pay and have the form ready for you before the end of the day on Tuesday as the consular would be in then.
Send the receipt of the payment to me once you are done .
MoneyGram Details For Payment:
Name:Janet Aaron
Street Address: 2 Marsham St
City:Westminster
State:London
Zip code:SW1P 4JA
Country:UK
Amount:$838.24 (USD)
—
Janet Michael
United Kingdom Border Agency.
N.A.
Hi Cissi. This JUST happened to me… same characters, Edward Smith and Janet Michael. Different church. St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in London. Also unlike in your case, I fell for it, so excited by the opportunity. Paid them $760, then they asked for $1770 more and that’s when we finally got suspicious, Googled the name, and found your post. I just want to reach out to you directly and thank you! We were getting ready to buy plane tickets for my daughters to come with us, as they promised they would buy tickets for my husband and me. I told my whole family, former law school professors, my in-laws. I have cancer, in chemo, and my father just died. It’s been the worst year of my life and I honestly thought this was a blessing from God! The date for the event they were lying about was July 8, which is the anniversary of my cancer diagnosis and my daughters birthday. We were going to go to London as a family so that I could give my big lecture, and we could celebrate my starting to recover from chemotherapy and my daughter‘s 16th birthday. I’m still in tears. Thanks to you, this did not end up being much much worse. I wonder whether you contacted me authorities? I’m hoping there’s a file on the scammers. I doubt I will get any money back, but I still want to pursue this with an investigation. Please contact me if you did follow up on this at all. Hoping I could get in touch with an officer who knows about these people. Then I could submit evidence to them, my emails and documents. They must be stopped! My name is Maggie Anderson. My website is http://www.authormaggieanderson.com. With warm regards and great respect, Maggie
I represent a speaker and we just had this experience. We caught it before the bank account got involved but there was some information the theives got. Be very wary.
thanks for this posting
Thanks for your comment, Moira. I hope nothing too important got compromised. I also received email from a Christian church saying that the preacher had been approached with the Christian version of the scam. Fortunately, they figured it out right away, because the sums offered were unrealistically high.
Beware, everyone!
Received this one and smelled a rat. They look good, have legitimate looking websites in the U.S. and in the U.K. Maybe they are using a real churches site?
Found out that someone else at my speaker’s bureau received it too. Here it is:
Grace and Peace unto you Cheryl Lacey Donovan ,
We are Rev Mike Kendall and Debby Kendall of the Brownhill Road Baptist Church
292 Brownhill Road, Catford, SE6 1AU London United Kingdom.We are writing to invite you to be our guest
speaker at this year WOMEN OF HOPE CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE 2010.After
reading through your profile on http://www.cheryllaceydonovan.org
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment.All travel
arrangements,Speaking fees and Hotel accommodation will be taken care
of as soon as you honor this invitation.
Venue
Church Hall Brownhill Road Baptist Church
292 Brownhill Road, Catford, SE6 1AU
London United Kingdom
Website:www.womenofhopeconference.com( under construction)
Expected audience: 1500
Date 1st October to 3th October 2010
Topic:PURSUING PURPOSE WITH THE POWER, PASSION AND PRESENCE OF GOD”
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have to:
brownhillbaptistdeskoffice@gmail.com
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Brownhill Road Baptist Church
292 Brownhill Road, Catford, London, SE6 1AU
London United Kingdom
http://www.brownhillbaptists.org.uk
Host Pastors:Rev Mike Kendall and Debby Kendall
Email:brownhillbaptistdeskoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 7024069826
Btw I posted my copy of hers and they inserted her website into the letter. These guys are smart.
Here’s the speaker invitation I received.
The tip-offs:
> An invitation to fly across the ocean to speak didn’t seem likely, since they only visited my website and hadn’t heard me speak before.
> the Gmail account
> The church website made no reference to the pastor named in the letter.
> The event was going to have 1500 in attendance, when according to the church website, they only have 50 adult members.
> the phone number on the email did not match the number on the church website
> the church website did not list the event on the master calendar
> the event is supposed to be a “youth” conference, when the ages of attendees is listed as 18-55
> the invitation arrives in September for an event in November
Here’s the original email:
From: Pastor Dennis Smith [mailto:avenuebaptisttchurch@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 9:38 AM
To: letters@familyministries.com
Subject: AVENUE YOUTH CONFERENCE 2010
Avenue Baptist Church,
98 Avenue Road,
Beckenham,
Kent,
BR3 4SA
WEBSITE: http://www.avenuebaptist.org
TELEPHONE: +44 702 404 7721
fax:020 8676 3785
REQUEST FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT
Beloved ___ And _________,
I am Pastor Brian Smith from the aforementioned organization, we write you to seek your engagement in our upcoming conference tagged AVENUE YOUTH CONFERENCE 2010″ coming up 15th -18th November 2010.The purpose of these conference is to re-brand the heart,mind,body and soul of Christians who have gone astray and are diverting their whole attention into mundane affairs instead of seeking eternal life.
With all these at hand, we deemed it necessary to invite you to come and minister in this year’s conference after browsing through your lovely profile on your website, we are optimistic you will indeed be a center of attraction for the audience to look up to as a role model through your inspirational and emotional speech.
Confirm to us via e-mail or direct mobile on this letter head if you would be available for these engagement or further questions about event so we can forward to you necessary binding documents. Your Hotel Accommodation, Feeding, and Airfare Ticket will be taken care of by the E.O.C (Event
Organizing Committee).
More Info
AUDIENCE: 1500
AGE: 18-55
REFERENCE: EVENT BROCHURE
SIGNING AUTOGRAPH: ALLOWED
SELLING OF CD’S: ALLOWED.
SPEAKING TOPIC: BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
I received the SAME INVITATION (today 11-13-10) and I cannot figure out what they hope to gain from this.
Jerry — that’s what puzzles everyone else. I guess at some point they were planning to ask for money. They (thankfully) didn’t get that far with you.
Stay vigilant!
Just happened to me this weekend. Similar email. Thank you for having this write-up here. It seemed strange and your posting confirmed it.
Thanks for the posting of this information, this SCAM is being modified and updated to new churches, new pastors, new topics, and new venues because people are becoming more aware of warnings such as yours.
I have received the folowing variation this week:
Victory Outreach Church
Greenforge Way
Springvale Ind Estate
United Kingdom
NP44 3UZ
http://www.victorychurch.co.uk/
Host Pastor:Pastor Richard Taylor
Email:victoryoutreachchurchoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 7045750464
Grace and Peace unto you XXXXX XXXXX,
We are Pastor Richard Taylor of the victory Outreach Church London
,United Kingdom.We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker
at this year Divine Restoration and Prayer Conference 2011. After
reading through your profile on http://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.org/. The
lord has direct us to email you for this assignment.All travel
arrangements,speaking fee and Hotel accommodation will be taken care
of as soon as you honor this invitation.
Venue
Spurgeon Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Greenforge Way
Springvale Ind Estate
United Kingdom
NP44 3UZ
Date :21st of February to 23rd of February 2011
Topic:The Effect Of Compromising God”s Standard
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have.
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Richard Taylor
Victory Outreach Church
Greenforge Way
Springvale Ind Estate
United Kingdom
NP44 3UZ
Followed by:
Dear XXXXX XXXXXXX,
Thanks so much for indicating your interest to be our guest speaker at
this year Divine Restoration and Prayer Conference 2011.We are very excited and happy to have such a wonderful personality in our mist. And i also want to thank you for visiting our website and the possibility of being blessed by my divine message.
The event organizing committees had a meeting earlier today to deliberate on getting you available here in the United Kingdom. We believe we serve the lord of Possibilities. Arrangements are stated below.
We have attached a formal Letter of Invitation and contract agreement. Please reconfirm to us your Mailing Address and Cell phone number for our perusal and further action. Note you are meant to arrive a day before the commencement of the event.
Please return a signed copy of the contract agreement for proper documentation.
We have agreed to buy you and any assistant you may wish to accompany you here flight tickets and to pay your Hotel accommodation expenses. Also your speaking fee is amounted to 8,500Dollars.$5,250 deposit is to be paid as soon as you procure all relevant travel documents so as to avoid any disappointment. You are informed to get across your UK Entry Clearance to us so your deposit can be approved according to our mandated rules and regulation.
You are advised by the Event Organizing committee to immediately contact the UK BORDER AGENCY staff to procure your UK Entry Clearance as soon as possible.
This will enable us to proceed with all arrangements to welcome you here in London due to the new British Rules. Contact the UK Border Agency staff information below for immediate assistance with her personal email address.
Name: Dr Warren Smith
Address :29 Brown Street,
Postcode: W1G 9QR
Country: London, United Kingdom
Email: ukbacustomerservices@hotmail.com
Tel: +442075588029
Please confirm to us the closest Airport to your location so we can start making arrangements to buy your flight ticket.Understand that you need to expedite action because of the short notice. Feel free to call me on + 44 7045750464
We await your earliest response
Be Blessed
Pastor Richard Taylor
Of course, when asked questions, “Pastor Richard” is more than happy to answer enough of them in such a vague way that you received a response but not an answer.
Then, when you communicate with the suggested contact about the “Entry Clearance” you receive another formal sounding response, this one asking for money (more than what the UKBA lists as a fee) for the Clearance Fee as such:
ATTENTION CLIENT:
I acknowledge the receipt of your mail and i understood all the content. Without any waste of time and due to short time you have left to proceed with the issuance of these important documents. I will therefore embark upon you obtaining a second tier UK ENTRY CLEARANCE.
These class of ENTRY CLEARANCE is for employee who falls under the category of religious activities and intends to impact knowledge and technical know-how to the citizens of Great Britain. Pertaining to the urgency and speedy alacrity of these project at hand,i will proceed to the UK BORDER AGENCY to get you all necessary documents
You are advised to immediately Provide me with the listed requirements.
1. Letter of Invitation
2. Full Name Of Applicant
3. UK Entry Clearance Fee 290pounds ($450)
4. Full Home And Office Address.
5. Date of Birth (D.O.B)
6. Valid Certificate Of Sponsorship (Already Submitted To My Desk By A
representative Of Victory Outreach Church)
When you apply you are awarded points based on your:
* certificate of sponsorship:
* English language skills; and
* available maintenance (funds). which is your requested UK CLEARANCE FEE.
Your Work Papers shall be ready in one week and you will be able to get your work papers prior to the event commencement. And as soon as your passport is ready do not hesitate to forward me necessary information so as to facilitate your Entry Clearance Submission.
I await the listed information to proceed to get you the documents as soon as
possible. Note without you providing these requirements I cannot proceed to get
you these documents. If i receive all information, then i shall
proceed to the UK Border Agency to get you your documents. Note you
can send all documents through email attachment.
You can send Clearance Permit Fee through Money Gram or Western Union to the
information below.
Name: Dr Warren Smith,
Address: LONDON UNITED KINGDOM
Postcode W1G 9QR.
After the transaction forward to me the (MTCN) numbers for verification
Make sure you attach the payment slip for record purpose.
In your service
DR Warren Smith
UK BORDER AGENCY OFFICIAL
+44 207 558 8029
The “Binding Documents” sent are informal as follows:
Victory Church
Greenforge Way, Springvale Ind.
Estate, United Kingdom
NP44 3UZ
http://www.victorychurch.co.uk/
Host Pastor: Pastor Richard Taylor
Email: victoryoutreachchurchoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 704 575 0464
LETTER OF INVITATION
Victory Church officially invites XXXX XXXXX to be our guest speaker at the Divine Restoration and Prayer Conference 2011coming up here in United Kingdom.
Location Address
Location:
Victory Church
Spurgeon Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Greenforge Way, Springvale Ind. Estate
United Kingdom. NP44 3UZ
Date: 21st of February to 23rd of February 2011
For: Victory Church
Name: Pastor Richard Taylor
Contact Person:
Date: January 21st 2011
Signature
(illegibale signature here)
and:
Victory Church
Greenforge Way, Springvale Ind.
Estate, United Kingdom
NP44 3UZ
http://www.victorychurch.co.uk/
Host Pastor: Pastor Richard Taylor
Email: victoryoutreachchurchoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 704 575 0464
January 21st, 2011
CONTRACT AGREEMENT
This letter of Agreement is made and entered into between XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX(hereinafter referred to as the” Speaker”) of USA and Pastor Richard Taylor (Herein referred to as the “Presenter”) whose organization name is Victory Church, United Kingdom.
The contact person for matters of this agreement is Pastor Richard Taylor who will act as agent for the presenter.
ENGAGEMENT: DIVINE RESTORATION AND PRAYER CONFERENCE 2011″
CONFERENCE THEME: “SHOW THE LIGHT AND THE PEOPLE WILL FIND THE WAY”
Host: Victory Church
Contact: Pastor Richard Taylor
Speaker: XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
Function: Divine Restoration and Prayer Conference 2011
Appearance Date(s): Date: 21st of February to 23rd of February 2011
Location:
Victory Church
Spurgeon Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Greenforge Way, Springvale Ind. Estate
United Kingdom. NP44 3UZ
Audience Size / Demographics: 1500
Topic: The Effects of Compromising God’s Standard
Time Table / Duration:
21st of February 2011 – approximately ____________ 4.00pm – 5.00pm
22nd of February 2011 – approximately ____________ 5.00pm – 6.00pm
23rd of February 2011 – approximately ____________11.00am – 12.00pm
Any additions or revisions to the timetable must be requested and approved in writing.
OTHER ENTITLEMENT:
Recommended Attire: Business / Business Casual
Travel Expense: Presenter will provide business class airfare for XXXXX XXXXXXX.
UK ENTRY CLEARANCE: to be taken care of by Speaker
Presenter will provide ground transportation to and from the Heathrow International airport in London for XXXXXX XXXXXXX.
Hotel: King-size bed, non-smoking room with late arrival guaranteed PLUS meals for XXXXXX XXXXXX.
Accommodations: London Hilton Hotel for 5nights
PAYMENT TERMS AND CONDITION:
Payable to: Speaker
Fee: 8,500.00 (USD) – plus expenses as outlined above
Deposit Amount: $ 5,250.00 (USD) Deposit due upon Procurement of UK ENTRY CLEARANCE and other relevant travel documents.
Balance Amount: $ 3250.00 (USD)
Fee Notes: Funds will be paid via Certified Bank Cheque upon conclusion of contract.
PLEASE NOTE: The first part payment of your fee will be issued out to you as soon as you procure your mandatory travel documents.
This is to ensure readiness on your part. The management does not want to undergo any loss for paying speaker travel documents due to act of insubordination from previous Speaker. The management has hereby laid down strict rules and regulations for Speaker to abide by in order to ensure an uninterrupted cordial preparation for this event. Any speaker who refuses to abide by these principles will forfeit his/her deposit and be terminated from contract.
IN WITNESS THEREOF the speaker and the Presenter have examined the forgoing provisions and have executed this agreement as of the dates shown below.
The above conditions are accepted by me:
Speaker Name: XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX
Signature: ________________________
Date: ________________________
For: Victory Church
Host: Pastor Richard Taylor
Date: January 21st, 2011
Signature
(again, an illegible signature here)
The old addage applies here: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Well, doggone, I thought I was going to Jolly Old England! I just got the same invitation, same phrasing, and from the same not so reverend Pastor Richard Taylor. I smelled a rat when the honorarium I presented, a modest $3,000 plus expenses (I actually prayed over it, as always, God answers!) was ignored but the standard fee and deposit appeared in the next email. Before responding to ask that a deposit be WIRED, not deposited, I googled the name and SCAM. God bless you for posting this. I wouldn’t have provided information outside of what they already have, but I have been known to waste a lot of time over people with less than honorable motives. Let’s remember to pray for these people!
I just got the same letter from Pastor Richard Taylor with the address 121 Harley Road
Bermondsey, London, SE 16 2Jy
I have now received two such scam email invitations for speaking engagements. The first was from the Brownhill Road Baptist Church in the UK, as someone has already posted, and the second from Grace Baptist Church, Gurney Road, Straford, London, host pastor is Elisa John. Each gave an email address that is a gmail account. On both occasions, I looked up the churches’ websites and they appear to be legitimate. However, with the second one, the pastor’s name is Elisha, not Elisa. On each occasion I also “googled” the conference mentioned. The first was listed as “blah blah prayer conference 2010,” the second is called “Divine Restoration and Prayer Conference 2011.” In both cases neither conference exists. The first listing that comes up for the 2011 conference is this site, about the scam.
We must all be keenly aware of the possibility of scammers and keep all our identifying information private.
Just got same offer from this Pastor Taylor. Wow. Glad I checked.
My father had a show that aired on AIB called “Your Hebrew Roots”. He received an email immediately following the first airing of his show. My father was all excited and was ready to jump on it and began calling all his friends to tell him “the good news”. I, being an attorney, immediately told him that it sounded like a scam and to let me do some research before he did anything. The website in the email was legitimate, but I did notice that the name of the Rev. was spelled wrong, not just in the signature, but also where it tells you who the email was from (right beside the originating email address) so it couldn’t have been a typo. The Rev.’s name in the email was Rev. Garvin Carpenter B.A from the Earlsfield Baptist Church in the UK, but on the website his name is Rev. Gavin Carpenter (notice the “R” is missing). Also, the phone number was different. I emailed the church and am waiting to hear a response but bet it all that it is a scam. Once I took the phone number the email listed and put it into a google search, I was turned onto this blog and others like it. So apparantly they have used this number before +44 702 404 7721. I do not even need to hear back from the church to know this is a scam. From a legal standpoint, everyone should take this as a scam and leave it alone. Never give out your information especially when it is from a place out of the US. There is no way to fight this once the damage is done, and who can afford to fight it with it being so far away? BEWARE!!!!
In Feb this year (2011) my friend received a form letter exactly like the other versions listed here. It was supposedly from what appears to be a real ministry.
Christ The Rock Ministries
Salvation Army Bldg, 2nd flr,
25 Brownhill Rd, SE6 2HE
London, United Kingdom.
http://www.ctrm.org/
Tel Phone: + 44 7024069826
LONDON GLORY CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE 2011
Contact the UK Border Agency staff information below for immediate assistance with her personal email address.
Name: Dr Mary Davison
Address :29 Brown Street,
Postcode: W1G 9QR
Country: London United Kingdom
Email: Drmarydavison@mail2mary.com
Tel: +442075588029
I have received two of these speaking scam emails as well in the past 4 months. I love it that people have inserted the text here! Thank you…It’s exactly the same as what I’ve been getting. I’m wondering which speaker sites they’re targetting, or maybe they’re just taking turns with a bunch of them.
Sad, silly and stupid. If only this effort were put into constructive, edifying work!
Greetings,
THANK YOU SOOOO VERY MUCH FOR MAKING US AWARE OF THIS UNFORTUNATE SCAM. I TOO RECEIVED THE SAME EMAIL FOR THE DIVINE RESTORATION 2011 CONFERENCE IN MAY. EVEN SPOKE WITH THE SO-CALLED PASTOR. THIS TIME HIS NAME WAS PASTOR WILLIAMS ANDERSON AND WIFE MARIA. I ASKED A SERIES OF QUESTIONS AND THEY WERE VERY VAGUE WITH RESPONSE. THE GREATEST THING WAS GETTING THAT UK WORK PERMIT. THE CHURCH IS LONDON CITY INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTER (www.lcicc.co.uk) AND THE UK BORDER AGENCY: DR. REBECCA DIXON (WHOM I NEVER WAS ABLE TO SPEAK WITH). YES THESE PEOPLE DO NEED PRAYER! MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON THEIR SOULS. GOD SAID EVEN THE VERY ELECT WILL BE DECEIVED IN THESE LAST DAYS. THANK YOU FOR SHINING THE LIGHT ON THIS MAJOR ISSUE ON BEHALF OF TRUE BELIEVERS. GOD BLESS YOU ALL
I just today received the scam invitation and it immediately sent up some red flags for me although I wasn’t quite sure. I Googled the church in the UK and the location, etc. It looked legit, but I still felt that something was mighty fishy about it (including the grammar in the invitation). I then saw a link to your website here and have read the other stories, complete with the letters. Mine was about the Victory Praise Adult and Youth conference in the UK. So, thank you everyone for posting here and to the host of this blog/website. We must stick together in prayer! Be vigilant! God bless!
Thanks for your postings. I too received this invitation from Richard Taylor (word for word identical to some those above, except for dates and title) and was suspicious, esp when I was asked to send money to someone at the UK border clearance with a Hotmail address. I didn’t know how to confirm my suspicions.
According to another site, these emails are coming from Nigeria. You have to marvel at how that one country manages to produce so many internet scams. Do you know that this site comes up first when one googles ‘UK entry clearance for religious speaker’?
wow i jus receive the exact email from pastor richard taylor my question is do this pastor know that hes name is being used ? or is he a scammer also ?
I have received the same scam. It arrived yesterday, but the lead email was the same as the others except for the dates, June 18 to 20, 2011 and the name of the conference “Victory and Praise Youth and Adult Conference 2011” Thank the Lord for this information posted here before they got more than my name and address.
To God be the glory !!! I recently received the exact same invitation from “Pastor” Richard Taylor via our church website for my Pastor to come and speak. I am grateful that this forum exposed this scam.
I received this “invitation” from Richard Taylor as well this week. I too am wondering if the real Richard Taylor is aware of this…youtube his name and he seems to be a legitimate pastor, speaker, author. The church name even seems legit via youtube – Victory Church UK. I did email the church office as well as the office of Victory Outreach UK organization to make them aware. So far, no response. Who knows, maybe it is all trumped up! Thanks for your post. Blessings to you all.
In Response to Cathy above, we are well aware of this scam using our details to attempt to extort money. Just goes to show that we need to do our homework when we recieve such invitations. The location states London, staying at the Heathrow hotel, but if you check out our genuine details, you will see we are in Wales, not England. I also suggest that any contact is made through the website of the organisation, ignoring the email address thats given.
Blessings
Allun Davies
Youth Pastor
Victory Church
http://www.victorychurch.org.uk
Sorry the webaddress should read http://www.victorychurch.co.uk
and we can be contacted direct via the contact details on the website
Blessings
Allun Davies
Youth Pastor
Victory Church
http://www.victorychurch.co.uk
I was just contacted with a similar scam. However, this time they used the name of a real university and an actual professor who was affiliated with that university. Everything else is similar. They use a gmail account, the grammar is questionable and they ask for you to send the work permit fees by Western Union to a personal account and also ask for your bank account to advance your speaking fees.
My version was similar to those listed above except that the university was Nottingham Trent and the invitation came from a Malcolm Prowle. I contacted the real Malcolm Prowle who informed me that eight other people had also contacted him about this scam.
It appears that the perpetrators are finding targets on websites that advertise experts so be careful if you have a web presence on those types of membership sites.
The use of real university professors ads an air of legitimacy so be mindful of that.
By the way (in response to Krista) in their email to me they mentioned that they found me on selfgrowth.com.
I, too, received an email via AOL from the aforementioned Victory Church in the UK. The grammar was bad enough to set off red flags immediately. Thankfully, it landed in my spam, which I check before deleting it just in case. So I Googled it and found it to be a scam. Thanks for your diligence to make others aware of this and pray that these people who do these things will put their efforts into something more positive!
[…] harvesting) that has been around at least since 2009 (Googling "British speaker scam" brings up a number of articles and posts, several with extensive comments from others who've been solicited). The […]
OMG. We almost fell for this – me AND my agency!! Upon hearing that I was to wire money to “Moneygram” in ADVANCE of any deposit, red flags went up – and not so much because I thought “scam” but more because I thought it was weird that the UK required such a long, involved work visa for a speaking engagement for a church, so I started by googling THAT and the first result used the term “scam”… it was obvious from there.
When its too good to be true, its too good to be true!
Scripture warns us not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices.
I also received an ‘invitation’ to be a guest speaker in London, and while their were no spelling errors commonly found in these scams I had a check in my spirit and decided to do some investigating. Below is the ‘supposed’ contract:
_______________________________________________________________________________
NEW LIFE CHURCH
Holybourne Avenue,
London, SW15 4JE
Phone +442036086176
http://www.newlifelondon.com/
February 8th 2013
CONTRACT AGREEMENT
This letter of Agreement is made and entered into by Rev. (my name) (hereinafter referred to as the” Speaker”) of USA (Herein referred to as the “Presenter”) Pastor Duncan F. Williams organization whose name is New Life Church London, United Kingdom.
The contact person for matters of this agreement is Pastor Duncan F. Williams who will act as an agent for the presenter.
ENGAGEMENT: Reaching the Unreached Conference 2013
CONFERENCE THEME: “SHOW THE LIGHT AND THE PEOPLE WILL FIND THE WAY”
Host Church: New Life Church
Contact: Pastor Duncan F. Williams
Speaker: Rev. (my name)
Function: Reaching the Unreached Conference 2013
Appearance Date(s): 29th of March to 31st of March 2013
Location: New Life Church
36 Holybourne Avenue,
London, United Kingdom
SW15 4JE
Audience Size / Demographics: 1150
TOPIC: GOD OF HOPE
Time Table / Duration:
29th of March 2013 – approximately ____________ 12.00pm – 1.00pm
30th of March 2013 – approximately ____________ 4.00pm – 5.00pm
31st of March 2013– approximately ____________ 5.00pm – 6.00pm
Any additions or revisions to the timetable must be requested and approved in writing.
OTHER ENTITLEMENT:
Recommended Attire: Business / Business Casual
Travel Expense: Presenter will provide business class airfare for Speaker
UK Entry Clearance: to be taken care of by Speaker
Presenter will provide ground transportation to and from the Heathrow International airport in London upon speaker’s arrival and to and from the venue of conference each day.
Hotel: King Size bed, non-smoking room with late arrival guaranteed PLUS meals for Speaker and Assistant.
Accommodations: London Hilton Hotel for 4nights
PAYMENT TERMS AND CONDITION:
Payable to: Speaker
Fee: 7,500.00 (USD) – plus expenses as outlined above
Deposit Amount: $4,500.00 (USD) Deposit due upon Procurement of UK Entry Clearance and other relevant travel documents.
Balance Amount: $ 3000.00 (USD)
Fee Notes: Funds will be paid via Money Gram wire transfer upon conclusion of contract.
PLEASE NOTE: The first part payment of your fee will be wired to you as soon as you obtain your relevant travel documents and Entry Clearance.
This is to ensure readiness on your part. The management doesn’t want to undergo any loss for paying speaker travel documents due to act of insubordination from previous Speaker.
The management has hereby laid down strict rules and regulations for Speaker to abide by in order to ensure an uninterrupted cordial preparation for this event.
Any speaker who refuses to abide by these principles will forfeit his/her deposit and be terminated from contract.
IN WITNESS THEREOF the speaker and the Presenter have examined the forgoing provisions and have executed this agreement as of the dates shown below.
The above conditions are accepted by me
Speaker Name: Rev. (my name)
Signature: ________________________
Date: ________________________
In his Infinite Mercy
Pastor Duncan F. Williams
New Life Church
Signature:
Duncan F.Williams
Received this to the letter with one excepton the name of the church, CRC LOndon
Thanks for flagging — amazing and frustrating that this scam is still going after so many years!
My husband received an IDENTICAL “contract” this week except it was from a Pastor Vincent Ong of Hope Church instead of Pastor Duncan F. Williams of New Life Church.
People with public speaking ministries and churches and pastors are being scammed. Our church has been targeted.The scammers use genuine churches without their knowledge and invent fictitious conferences to invite genuine guest speakers too. They phone posing as the pastors of that church and even make genuine hotel bookings. They seem to be using churches and their pastors in the UK and SA and targeting speakers mainly from Canada and the USA and some UK speakers. We are NOT hosting a conference at our church called the Hope Payer Conference in Nov 2013 and we are NOT inviting 1500 congregations to attend although we welcome visitors. Please alert anyone with a public speaking ministry. USA and Canadians too can report scams or identity theft at actionfraud which is a site run by UK police. http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Dose this look & read familiar!!!
Thank You Lord for this site … we felt in our Spirits it was a scam … We didn’t get so far as anyone asking for money! But we were sure that would have been the next step!
Our good friends were scammed last year out of $20,000 on a time share scam! We are so grateful that you all have exposed this scam . Yep there still at it!
Timestamp: 2013-11-02 13:01:35
Web Site: http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.org
Form: Contact Form
Submission: 165
First Name: Eric
Last Name: Whittaker
Email Address: Jubileelifechurchoffice@gmail.com
Telephone Number:
City: London
State:
Country: United States
Best Time To Call: PM
Comments: Jubilee Church Life Centre
1-5 London Road
Grantham
Lincolnshire
NG31 6EY
United Kingdom
Phone+447432463479
http://www.jubileegrantham.co.uk
Grace and Peace be unto you R
Richard G. Xxxx
We are Pastors Eric and Pat Whittaker of Jubilee Church Life Centre
London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at this year
GOD OF HOPE PRAYER CONFERENCE 2013.This is a great Kingdom connection that
gets us excited the way the lord connects his people all over the world through internet.
After reading through your profile on http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe lord has direct us to
email you for this assignment .All travel arrangements, speaking fee and Hotel
accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor this invitation.
Venue
Jubilee Church Life Centre Hall
1-5 London Road
Grantham
Lincolnshire
NG31 6EY
United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 13th December to 15th of December 2013
Topic: God of Hope
You will receive a formal Letter of Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you
honor our invitation .Kindly provide us your cell phone number and mailing address.
Email any questions you may have. Please feel free to visit our website on
http://www.jubileegrantham.co.uk. More update on this year conference is coming soon
Remain Blessed
Pastor Eric Whittaker
+447432463479
HTTP USER AGENT:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/9.0.597.16 Safari/534.13
Jubilee Church Life Centre
1-5 London Road
Grantham
Lincolnshire
NG31 6EY
United Kingdom
Phone +447031922581
http://www.jubileegrantham.co.uk
Grace and Peace be unto you Joel and Maria Savage ,
We are Pastors Eric and Pat Whittaker of Jubilee Church Life Centre
London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at this year
GOD OF HOPE PRAYER CONFERENCE 2014.This is a great Kingdom connection that
gets us excited the way the lord connects his people all over the world through internet.
After reading through your profile on http://www.savageministries.com/. The lord has direct us to
email you for this assignment .All travel arrangements, speaking fee and Hotel
accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor this invitation.
Venue
Jubilee Church Life Centre Hall
1-5 London Road
Grantham
Lincolnshire
NG31 6EY
United Kingdom
Date of Conference :21st February to 23rd of February 2014
Topic: God of Hope
You will receive a formal Letter of Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you
honor our invitation .Kindly provide us your cell phone number and mailing address.
Email any questions you may have. Please feel free to visit our website on
http://www.jubileegrantham.co.uk. More update on this year conference is coming soon
Remain Blessed
Pastor Eric Whittaker
+447031922581
just happened to me 2…got this email a few days ago….thanks so much for this post that made it dry clear what this was. BOOOO to whomever thinks this stuff up.
here i a copy of the initial email:
Message from your website:
From: Pastor Gordon Lyon
Email: pastorgordonnewlifeministry@gmail.com
Phone: +44 702 407 6559
Message: New Life Christian Centre
10 – 18 Hope Street
Hamilton
Scotland
ML3 6AF
WEBSITE:http://www.newlifeministry.co.uk//
EMAIL:pastorgordonnewlifeministry@gmail.com
TELEPHONE: +44 702 407 6559
REQUEST FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT
Beloved Pastor,
We are Pastor Gordon Lyon from the aforementioned organization,we write
you to seek your engagement in Our Upcoming conference tagged
“ULTIMATE GRACE ADULT AND YOUTH CONFERENCE 2014” coming up here in
United Kingdom.from 19th-21st of February 2014.
New Life Christian Centre
10 – 18 Hope Street
Hamilton
Scotland
ML3 6AF
THEME:I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
TOPIC:HE WILL REMAIN THE GOD OF ALL NATION
We choose you for this engagement because you have the real insight and
intuitiveness of delivering a piercing speech after digesting your profile
on to the audience through the
inspirational,motivational word of yours.
All travel expenses,Hotel accommodation,Airfare ticket and meals shall be
taken care of as soon as you honor Our invitation.
Kindly get back to us on this letter head if you will be available for this
event via email(pastorgordonnewlifeministry@gmail.com).We will be
ready to answer all
your questions.
We look forward to meeting you soon.
STAY BLESSED
PASTOR GORDON LYON
+44 702 407 6559
IP Address: 41.204.224.12
I’m very grateful for this site. I received a letter claiming to be from “Reverend David Wilson” of the Hamilton Baptist Church in Scotland asking me to speak. This scammer had done his/her homework as they knew the topics I spoke on and tailored the letter to those. Much of the language was exactly the same as others describe in their posts. I did email the church to let them know their name was being used. They responded promptly and thanked me for letting them know.
Same tip offs. Language a bit off. Pretty overboard on the “God led us to contact you….blah, blah, language. Email came from a gmail account and outlook express rather than from a church email. For me the kicker was the work visa pitch. I’ve done international conferences and never been asked for that before. Again, thanks for helping me prevent a problem!
Glad we could help, Kay. I continue to be amazed at the longevity of this scam. I’m afraid it must work well enough for the scammers to keep trying. So good for you for spotting the danger signs.
The scam to me was very similar: It was from a well known Pastor J Mumford from( New) Vineyard Church in UK. Clues were that the request was poorly worded, No answer to phone #, High offer of being paid for Speaking at Brand of the Heart.& Prayer Conf. This conference not listed on Vineyard web site with other conferences, No answer to questions about details about the conf. . UK friends told me about this suspected scam.
Yup…I got the Victory Outreach letter listed above…identical except for dates…so it is still going on…
I am thinking about going to Nigeria and hosting a conference!!!
We just received an invitation for our pastor to preach in the UK. My investigative skills kicked and I Goggle the church and I found you. Thank God. I sent an e-mail to the church and their Pastor with the below attached. Waiting for a response.
This is the e-mail that was sent to me :
Name: Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Email Address: victorychurchcenter@gmail.com
Phone: + 44 702-404-3724
Inquiry:
Victory Outreach Church Clarence Hall, Crickhowell, London United Kingdom NP8 1BN Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/ Email: victorychurchcenter@gmail.com Tel Phone: + 44 702-404-3724
Greetings unto You Reverend,
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 4th to 6th of July 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through your profile on your website. All arrangements, speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises) Clarence Hall, Crickhowell, London United Kingdom NP8 1BN Date : July 4th to July 6th 2015 Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have (victorychurchcenter@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed Pastor Jonathan Rogers Victory Outreach Church, UK + 44 702-404-3724
IP ADDRESS: 178.162.200.34
Thank you,
Mount Sinai Baptist Church
Thank you so much for posting. We just received the exact same request from Jonathan Rogers, Victory Outreach Church – Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference.
I am so glad to have come to this site. Like others who wrote above, I doubted if the invitation asking me to speak in the UK was legitimate.
My curiosity led me to research the church and while it was real, the name of the pastor in the email I received was for a church of the same name in another location. That was a red flag and strike one.
The fact that the “conference” in which I allegedly had been invited to speak was only two months away was another red flag and strike two.
Reading what is almost a verbatim version of the email I received (including the “conference” name) from the previous responders was yet another red flag – and strike three.
Thank you for sharing the information on each of your experiences. I normally would have simply deleted the scam email but thought it best to share the version which was sent to me to hopefully help others who may be contacted by these individuals who certainly need prayer.
Here is the email:
Beloved Pastor Thomas Clark,
We are Pastor Larwin Nickelson from the aforementioned organization,we write
you to seek your engagement in Our Upcoming conference tagged “DIVINE RESTORATION AND BLESSINGS YOUTH AND ADULT CONFERENCE 2015” coming up here in United
Kingdom.from 26th-28th of June 2015.
OIKOS Church
Turfpits Lane Christian Centre,
148 Turfpits Lane
Birmingham
B23 5DX
THEME:HE REMAINS THE GOD OF ALL UNIVERSE
TOPIC:RAISING UP A NEW GENERATION
We choose you for this engagement because you have the real insight and
intuitiveness of delivering a piercing speech after digesting your profile
on http://www.worlddeliverance.org// on to the audience through the inspirational,motivational word of yours.
All travel expenses,Hotel accommodation,Airfare ticket and meals shall be
taken care of as soon as you honor Our invitation.
Kindly get back to us on this letter head if you will be available for this
event via email(oikospastordesk@gmail.com).We will be ready to answer all
your questions.
We look forward to meeting you soon.
STAY BLESSED
PASTOR LARWIN NICKLESON
+44 703 191 0880
Our Pastor just received this exact same invitation from Pastor Larwin Nickleson in Birmingham, UK. We knew it smelled funny when the pastor’s name was spelled differently each time, the english was really broken and it came from a Gmail account. Red flags all over the place. Very sad that this type of thing happens. And very disappointing! Our pastor was looking forward to a trip to London. :)
I received the identical letter from the same “brother” as the previous post. Thankfully I realized it didn’t add up and trashed it.
Thanks….this has been a HUGE help. We just received a speaking invitation from Victory Outreach that seems kind of strange and these posts helped to clarify the situation. Here’s a copy of the email invitation:
From: Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Subject: request for speaking engagement
Message Body:
Victory Outreach Church
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/
Email: vocukoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 704-575-0464
Greetings unto You Pastor Terell,
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom.
We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference
tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 16th to 18th
of Oct 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through
your profile on http://thecityonline.org/. All arrangements,
speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Date : Oct 16th to Oct 18th 2015
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have (vocukoffice@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Victory Outreach Church, UK
+44 704-575-0464
received the same letter
Victory Church
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/
Email: victoryoutreachchurchoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 702-404-3724
Greetings unto You Pastor Orlando,
We are Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United
Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our
upcoming conference tagged “Restoring Faith Conference and Banquet”
coming up from 23rd through 25th of Oct 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through
your profile on http:xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. All arrangements,
speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
Date : Oct 23rd to Oct 25th 2015
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have and We will be happy to answer all
Your questions (victoryoutreachchurchoffice@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Stay Blessed
Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones
Victory Church, UK
+44 702-404-3724
after I had asked how they had heard of me…
Greetings to you Pastor Orlando,
Its so wonderful to read from you today!
The Lord directed us to email you for this assignment after we found
your ministry by on http://www.bing.com and we learned about you on your
website as stated in our previous email. We chose you for this
engagement because we believe you have the real insight and
intuitiveness of delivering a heart piercing speech after we learned
about you on your website.
The purpose of this event is to re-brand the mind, body and souls of
Christians who have gone astray and are diverting their whole
attention into mundane affairs. We have invited local speakers here in
the UK as well and you are the only international speaker invited.
Find below the schedule of date and time you will be required to speak:
Time Table / Duration:
23rd of Oct 2015 – approximately ____________ 4.00pm – 5.00pm
24th of Oct 2015 – approximately ____________ 5.00pm – 6.00pm
25th of Oct 2015 – approximately ____________11.00am – 12.00pm
Kindly get back to us in a timely manner if you will be available for
those dates so we can proceed with further preparations and forward
you a formal letter of invitation as time is of utmost importance.
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones
Victory Church, UK
+44 702 404 3724
What a shame. I’d love to see the land of my Ancestors.
Victory Church
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
WEBSITE: CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND NOT ALL INFORMATION HAS BEEN UPDATED.
Tel Phone: + 44 702-404-3724
Greetings unto you Pastor,
We are Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United
Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our
upcoming conference tagged “Faith Restoration conference and
Banquet”coming up from 2ND through 5TH of NOVEMBER 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after we got
your contact on “http://militarygetsaved.tripod.com” All
arrangements,speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as
soon as you honor this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
Date : 2ND to NOVEMBER 5TH 2015
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and a speaker Contract Agreement document as soon as you honor our
invitation,with your Full names and address,direct telephone
number,scan copy of you recent picture.
We await your earliest response.
Stay Blessed
Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones
Victory Church, UK
I have received an almost identical invitation to the ones shown above. I was almost taken in by it. Thanks for posting this most helpful information!
Thank for the information provided on this site. Our office just received a similar speaking invitation from Victory Outreach.
There were so many red flags to this invitation, but the two most obvious ones are: 1. No legitimate church/ministry would request a speaker in Sept 2015 and the engagement is in Nov 2015, to fly you halfway around the world. 2. The response email address is at gmail.
I urge all pastors/ministers to meditate on Proverbs 5:21-23 and 2 Timothy 3:5, and to be continually prayerful about accepting ministry invitations. Here’s a copy of the email invitation:
From: Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Subject: request for speaking engagement
Message Body:
Victory Outreach Church
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/
Email: victoryoutreachoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 704-575-0464
Greetings unto You Pastor ________,
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom.
We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference
tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 14th to 16th
of Nov 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through
your profile on your website. All arrangements,
speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Date : Nov 14th to Nov 16th 2015
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have (victoryoutreachoffice@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Victory Outreach Church, UK
+44 704-575-0464
We pray for the souls of all of those who are behind this and similar scams!
Just received the same email through our church website. They wanted me to speak in October – one month away from now in London – it was a little strange to say the least.
It was Pastor Jonathan Rogers who sent us the contact request.
Being a Baptist I found it odd that a Victory Church would invite me to come speak. In googling it I found this website – thanks for your vigilance in helping others to avoid this terrible scam.
Beware – they seem to be looking through websites and trying to catch people who would be inclined to travel to speak.
I just received a similar bogus request. So glad I followed on my gut instinct and checked it out. This is sad. I can’t imagine it being someone at that church sending it out as I look at their website and twitter. From the looks of what they are doing for Christ it is a direct attack against that church. Wondering if there is a government agency I should be contacting with the information?
Here’s what my letter said:
Victory Outreach Church
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/
Email: victoryoutreachoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 704-575-0464
Greetings unto You Pastor Sherry Stahl,
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom.
We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference
tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 14th to 16th
of Nov 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through
your profile on http://sherrystahl.com/. All arrangements,
speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Date : Nov 14th to Nov 16th 2015
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have (victoryoutreachoffice@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Victory Outreach Church, UK
+44 704-575-0464
Wow!! I received a similar email on October 14, 2015. This is so very shameful. These people don’t have a clue how God hold them accountable for this devilish attempt to take advantage of conscientious servants of the Kingdom of God. They will be judged for this evil. I pray that anyone who received this will do their due diligence and not be caught in this snare. Peace.
Here are the details for others to be aware of:
From: Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Subject: request for speaking engagement
Message Body:
Victory Outreach Church
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/
Email: voclondonoffice@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 704-575-0464
Greetings unto You Pastor (my full name),
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom.
We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference
tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 4th to 6th
of Dec 2015.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through
your profile on (our church’s website). All arrangements,
speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Date : Dec 4th to Dec 6th 2015
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have (voclondonoffice@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Victory Outreach Church, UK
+44 704-575-0464
YouTube is the best resource of all for this type of scam, one that allows you to see precisely how the shtick unfolds in real-world circumstances. Below is 5b4 such an example.
and we were so looking forward to Europe lol
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom.
We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference
tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 29th to 31st
of Jan. 2016.
The lord has direct us to emai
vocukofficedesk@gmail.com
Almost fell for it until I saw the large amount they were paying. They also identified me in the contract they sent as being from USA. I am Canadian.
I received the same scam email today:
Victory Church
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
WEBSITE: CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND NOT ALL INFORMATION HAS BEEN UPDATED.
Tel Phone: + 44 702-404-3724
Greetings unto you Pastor (my name)
We are Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United
Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our
upcoming conference tagged “Faith Restoration conference and
Banquet”coming up from 15th through 18TH of MARCH 2016.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after we got
your contact on “http://www.xxxxx.html” All
arrangements,speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as
soon as you honor this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
Date : 15th to MARCH 18th 2016
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and a speaker Contract Agreement document as soon as you
honor our invitation,with your Full names and address,direct telephone
number,scan copy of you recent picture.
We await your earliest response.
Stay Blessed
Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones
Victory Church, UK
Yes, I just received the same e-mail. The scam is you send 510.00 to someone for a “work permit”. I will paste the e-mail below. rom: Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Subject: Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference
Message Body:
Victory Outreach Church
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Website: http://victorychurch.co.uk/
Email: victorychurchcenter@gmail.com
Tel Phone: + 44 702-404-3724
Greetings unto You Dr. Ck Quarterman,
We are Pastor Jonathan Rogers of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom.
We are writing to invite you o be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference
tagged “Divine Restoration and Testimony Conference” coming up from 9th to11th
of July 2016.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after reading through
your profile on http://www.endtimeministrieschurch.com. All arrangements,
speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Clarence Hall,
Crickhowell, London
United Kingdom
NP8 1BN
Date : July 9th to 11th 2016
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of
Invitation and Contract Agreement as soon as you honor our invitation.
Email any questions you may have (victorychurchcenter@gmail.com).
We await your earliest response.
Remain Blessed
Pastor Jonathan Rogers
Victory Outreach Church, UK
+ 44 702-404-3724
You are advised by the Event Organizing committee to immediately
contact the UK BORDER AGENCY staff to procure your UK WORK
PERMIT as soon as possible.
This will enable us to proceed with all arrangements to welcome you
here in London due to the new British Rules. Contact the UK Border
Agency staff information below for immediate assistance with regarding
the process.
Name: Dr. Dennis Rodney,
Address: London, United Kingdom
Postcode WI8 4RW
Country: United Kingdom
Email: ukbaofficialcenter@outlook.com *************** Notice not a government account***********
I have received this email inviting me to London and preach, but the offer was too good to be true, God help us, but vengeance belong to our heavenly Father, and whatever is done secretly shall be exposed. Lets alert everyone.
My husband received this email via of our church website last Sunday. He has been corresponding back and forth with these people who was supposedly Dr. Gareth Crossley In London, UK. And yes it was very exciting but the whole time I was praying and researching. It was the misspelled words that kept my attention. They were even going to pay my way. Upon trying to call the UK border agency, the phone number was the same phone number for the church and for Dr. Crossley and the number did not work.
I Googled the number and found a website that explained that the numbers +44 70 XXXXXXX that the 70 is a redirecting number. It redirects the number to where ever the person is and that the calls can be very expensive to the caller. So you think that the person is in London but that they are actually somewhere else. So going back and checking all of the emails, every telephone number given to us was the same number. No matter who you were trying to call; the number was always the same. That was the end of communication for us. I still needed to check further and I found this blog, I thank you all for sharing your stories because it is the same scam that was being used on my husband different names but everything else the same.
Thanks for adding to the knowledge of this scam; sorry it wasn’t real!
Yes me too got the invite. same details. i was suspicious at first but cottoned on. al these comments have been helpful. beware that such scam artists can masquerading as Christian leaders – disgusting!
Still happening in Dec 2016.
Here is what I got this week:
Victory Church
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
WEBSITE: CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND NOT ALL INFORMATION HAS BEEN UPDATED.
Tel Phone: +44 702-404-3724
Greetings unto you Pastor Paul Olson
We are Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference tagged “Faith Restoration conference and Banquet”coming up from 1st through 4th of February 2017.
The lord has direct us to email you for this assignment after we got your contact on “http://www.refugecmi.org/About%5FUs/Our%5FPeople/” All arrangements,speaking fee and accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
Date : 1st to February 4th 2017
Topic: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
Theme: Show The Light and People Will Find Their Way
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of Invitation and a speaker Contract Agreement document as soon as you honor our invitation,with your Full names and address,direct telephone number,scan copy of you recent picture.
We await your earliest response.
Stay Blessed
Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones
Victory Church, UK
The lucky dupes that fall for it only lose some money they send. The Unlucky dupes that go overseas find themselves either in legal trouble because their entry into the country ended up being fraudulent or they find themselves being held hostage for ransom. Praying that we all do our due diligence and confirm “The Really Good Thing.”
Rev. Dr. Joseph Askins
I just today (3/2/17) at 12:51 EST, received the exact same word for word invitation as Dr. Paul Olson.
Thank you for your posting.
I am sooo glad I found this site. I had 2-3 email exchanges with these people and was thinking today, “This is too good to be true.” I started looking for Passion Conference and thank goodness found this site. Offered me a very large honorarium, airfare, etc to speak at the conference this Fall. So sad that people would spend so much time and energy to rip people off. I was tipped off when the UK Boarder Agencies email was a hotmail account.
Thanks, Dale — this scam and its scammers never seem to give up, so it’s important that we keep updating their efforts and keep alerting people to the dangers. I really appreciate you reporting back!
Thank God for this site and others. We received an email invite August 2017 for the Passion Conference for our Pastor, with Victory Outreach Church, Pastor Andrew Watt in the UK. They’ve got a website, they’ve got a social media page, they’ve even provided me the “The Hurdle House” for accommodations for my Pastor’s and Assistant’s stay while there for the Conference in Oct 2017.
They sent the order of the conference, Temp Tier 5 Work Permit info and official letter of invite. I questioned the inquiry from the beginning because never once did we receive a phone call, never once did they mentioned they have heard my pastor speak on television social media, live stream. The two final draws were, I had asked, if they could introduce us to other ministries, that may open their doors to my pastor’s ministry, while there. I never heard back on that question after asking three times. The final, final draw was the personal email address of the UK Border Agent.
I sent them a letter of scriptural rebuke and have yet to hear back. Thanks so much for you all sharing your stories Prayerfully we can continue this fight against the devil and his children, together. Blessings to you all
Thanks, Celeste — so sorry you had to receive this (as so many others also!). We keep fighting.
Received a scam from so called Ps Lyndon Jones. I had replied as it seemed genuine and the immediate follow up answer confirmed my suspicions. Be aware this is still circulating. I append below what was emailed so readers can be aware.
From: VICTORY CHURCH
Sent: Wednesday, 14 November 2018 10:42 AM
To:
Subject: FYI
Greetings unto you Pastor Pastor Naomi
Thank you for your mail response to our invitation. We noted as you outline in your mail. Pastor its by divine contact God connected us to you because we have been praying and God has given us answer to use you for the great assignment we have in Medford, New Jersey (USA)
There is this sick woman ,Vina Long (Late) but married a British Man Martin Long,(Late) without a child and the wife died of cancer last year. my self and the church has be the one praying for her in the hospital before she finally give up the ghost. She has handed over the property in Medford NJ (USA) , to the church and also left some huge amount of funds with a leaving financial security firm here in England.
The firm her late husband had a contract with after his death, lodge the funds with the security firm here in England.It was when the wife want to give up the ghost she disclose the funds and hand over the certificate of deposit to the church to establish a charity foundation in the name of the beneficiary that will help us commence this assignment and God’s project for you to be in charge to help the less privileged in your community,state and your country at large.
Now that God has chosen you to use it for orphanage the money to commence the project and you know the property in New Jersey is ready.I can ask the director of operation, of the financial security firm to take a picture of the fund and send to me so i can forward to you, also the agent in charge of the property in New Jersey to send me a picture of the house which i can send to you as well for your perusal as soon as i receive optimistic response from you to carryout out this God great assignment/ project to his Glory to secure our eternity.
In order for you to have an insight before i can file for claim documentation in your name as the next of kin. also introduce you to the director of operation of the financial security firm to open communication with him how you are to receive the fund to commence the project and as soon as the funds are confirm in your custody, my good self and wife and the church board of trustee will fly down to meet you in New Jersey for opening ceremony of the charity home and hand over the property documents to you as directed and instructed by the spirit to use the fund to commence the project.
I anticipate your optimistic response to give you more details to carry out and execute this project God has put in your custody without any hesitation you can as well pray for God has spoken to us he will as well give you the same dream in a two ways but the same meaning , like the two dreams he show Pharoh which Joseph interpreted the two as same, to give you directives and instruction to carry out this assignment.
We serve a God of possibility,
As we await your earliest response.
Peace and stay bless,
Pastor Phil
The follow up email is even worse below.
From: VICTORY CHURCH
Sent: Wednesday, 14 November 2018 10:42 AM
To:
Subject: FYI
Greetings unto you Pastor
Thank you for your mail response to our invitation. We noted as you outline in your mail. Pastor its by divine contact God connected us to you because we have been praying and God has given us answer to use you for the great assignment we have in Medford, New Jersey (USA)
There is this sick woman ,Vina Long (Late) but married a British Man Martin Long,(Late) without a child and the wife died of cancer last year. my self and the church has be the one praying for her in the hospital before she finally give up the ghost. She has handed over the property in Medford NJ (USA) , to the church and also left some huge amount of funds with a leaving financial security firm here in England.
The firm her late husband had a contract with after his death, lodge the funds with the security firm here in England.It was when the wife want to give up the ghost she disclose the funds and hand over the certificate of deposit to the church to establish a charity foundation in the name of the beneficiary that will help us commence this assignment and God’s project for you to be in charge to help the less privileged in your community,state and your country at large.
Now that God has chosen you to use it for orphanage the money to commence the project and you know the property in New Jersey is ready.I can ask the director of operation, of the financial security firm to take a picture of the fund and send to me so i can forward to you, also the agent in charge of the property in New Jersey to send me a picture of the house which i can send to you as well for your perusal as soon as i receive optimistic response from you to carryout out this God great assignment/ project to his Glory to secure our eternity.
In order for you to have an insight before i can file for claim documentation in your name as the next of kin. also introduce you to the director of operation of the financial security firm to open communication with him how you are to receive the fund to commence the project and as soon as the funds are confirm in your custody, my good self and wife and the church board of trustee will fly down to meet you in New Jersey for opening ceremony of the charity home and hand over the property documents to you as directed and instructed by the spirit to use the fund to commence the project.
I anticipate your optimistic response to give you more details to carry out and execute this project God has put in your custody without any hesitation you can as well pray for God has spoken to us he will as well give you the same dream in a two ways but the same meaning , like the two dreams he show Pharoh which Joseph interpreted the two as same, to give you directives and instruction to carry out this assignment.
We serve a God of possibility,
As we await your earliest response.
Peace and stay bless,
Pastor Phil
I work at a Hillsong location in the US and we received an email from a pastor that was invited to speak at our annual conference in the UK. Immediately I could tell something was off as the initiating email was a gmail account and they spelled hilsong (that’s how they spelled it) incorrectly. All the other emails came from gmail accounts. I advised this pastor that it was a scam and to proceed no further in the process. It’s sad that they are targeting pastors who are by nature, very trusting, but wanted to post this so others might benefit.
Thanks so much for letting us know! This scam never seems to end.
Thanks for the blog post. We received a similar email for our pastor this morning, but there were a lot red flags. However what got me going was that they included a link to a live website for the church which at first blush was very authentic looking. It was advertising the event which is coming up in November. So I poked around a little and googled the church name and that came back only with hits for their website. Mmmh, that seemed a bit odd. So I then looked up their DNS record and found that the web server is actually hosted in the US. Kinda strange for a Brit church to be hosting in the US. Inspecting the DNS record a little further show that the record was being managed from a Nigerian Domain name registry. Not surprised, but sad nonetheless to see a scam like this.
Here is the fake church web site if you care to take a look. https://www.gracechurchblackwood.org/
I was wondering how they were going to monetize the scam, so was interested to read this post. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for posting. It’s so sad that this scam continues to live on.
Hi, Nick.
I received an unsolicited invitation from a church in England that I’d never heard of to come and give a speech there in January, for which they will pay me. The group had someone claiming to be from the “United Kingdom Border Agency N.A.” email me. They said I first need to obtain a work permit. They added: “Our Government (United Kingdom) Main Application Fee for a UK work permit is £580 and £65 for homeland fee making an overall sum of £645 (GBP),” or US$833.”
I’m wondering: Do I actually need a work permit to give a speech in England? If so, should it cost that much? Doeos this sound legitimate? Or do you think this might be some sort of scam?
Thanks.
Howard Riell
Hi Howard — this is indeed a scam — don’t respond. There isn’t a “United Kingdom Border Agency NA,” you don’t need a work permit for this kind of one-off speech, and it wouldn’t be processed in that way.
Greetings all. I just received a similar email from a Pastor Phil Lyndon Jones of Victory Church in Nolton street, London. The email address is a hotmail one and the grammar in the beginning kind of scared me off. Its an invite to be a guest speaker in January 2022 at some Restoration Conference in London, strangely I just spoke to someone who received the same invite but for him it was for November this year.
I just received an email from Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom requesting me to speak at a “Faith Restoration Conference and Banquet” November 17th -20th. I have been asked to speak at many places including colleges but this one seemed out of the blue. I thank you for posting this as a SCAM so I won’t waste any time pursuing it further. It immediately hit me as odd. Why is this guy in the UK wanting to pay so much for me when there are qualified speakers in his own country? It’s an obvious scam.
Hi Pastor Steven Hunter. My name is Pastor Sibusiso Khumalo from Durban in South Africa but currently residing in Johannesburg . I just received the same email from the same person , to speak at the same event but this time the event is in January 2022. At first I got very excited as I have been to a few countries as a guest speaker but not the UK but after double checking a few things including the grammar in the beginning of the email I realized this was too good to be true. They claim to have gotten my detail from missionarychapel website or something but all in all , its kind of scary. Let’s all be careful guys and pray to God for guidance.
I just received the same invitation from a pastor Lyndon-jones. I’m grateful for this blog. I now know this is a scam. They are using victory outreach Harmon chapel Bolton street. UK cf31aa. Praying for truth over lies. I was hoping this was real so I can promote my new book sold: a life story. It’s on amazon.com I’m sure another door will open smile. Be blessed.
I just got one on march 3, 2022 in St Louis MO
I am happy to be the latest member of this exclusive club! I received this email invitation just this morning. I just burst into laughter as I immediately suspected it to be a scam. Thank you to Nick Morgan. Very helpful!
Welcome to the club! Sorry the benefits aren’t more compelling! Seriously, I am glad for one good result of a more suspicious era: at least we are more wary of these scams!
Hello friends. I guess I’m the loser of the group. Here I am with a doctorate, an MBA, and I got scammed. I just sent Janet Edwards, who claimed to represent the UK Border Agency, $760 for a UK work permit. One week ago, I received a speaker inquiry via my website to give the “annual lecture” at the St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in London. I am in tears!
The overly detailed and flowery verbiage, the poorly worded contract, the claim that the work permit needed to be obtained by me before they could send my tickets and deposit… the technique were the same. I have all the emails and attachments. I am so embarrassed.
“Janet Michael” just asked me for another $1780, and that’s when I decided to do some research and found this community. It seems the i scammer used that name before. I am so thankful to you Nick, and this entire community.
I was recently diagnosed with cancer AND my father just passed. We really thought this was a blessing from God. I was so excited, blinded. We planned to go to UK as a family. This crew said they would pay for all of us to come.
I know that It could have been much worse. But it still hurts.
Just wondering whether anyone had any luck with the authorities? I definitely want to pursue this, even though I doubt I will get my money back.
So sorry this happened.
I too got such invitation from Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom. We are writing to be a guest speaker at their upcoming conference tagged “Faith Restoration conference and Banquet” from 13th to JULY 16th 2022. They will cover all the costs including airfare, hotel accomodation, food, speaker fee. I have requested my friend in London to check out tbese people. However, after going through this site, there is no need to do so. Thank you for the information
Here’s the latest one:
Abundant Grace Church
8 Belmont Hill,
Lewisham,
London. SE30 16BD.
Website: http://www.graceabundantchurch.com
Email: info@graceabundantchurch.com
Church Office Phone: +44 7441 458992
Greetings to you Pastor xxxxxxxxxx,
I am Pastor Dickson Watt of Abundant Grace Church, United Kingdom. We are
writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at our upcoming
conference tagged “PROGRESS CONFERENCE 2023” coming up from 28th through
30th of July 2023.
The purpose of this conference is to trigger the pursuit of deep
Christianity among youth, young adult, old and partial Christians.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
8 Belmont Hill,
Lewisham,
London. SE30 16BD.
Date: July 28th to July 30th 2023
Scheduled Topic: Setting Aside Mundane Affairs and Passionately Pursuing Christ
Theme: Reach Out and Touch Someone
The weekend of the conference is going to be filled with incredible
times of worship, clear and relevant teachings and powerful encounters
with God’s presence and your expertise and experience in this field of
work will be an excellent addition to our programme (PROGRESS
CONFERENCE), as many of our visitors will look forward to hearing and
learning from your work. It is an honor to be able to invite you to be
a guest speaker for a talk on (Setting Aside Mundane Affairs and
Passionately Pursuing Christ), as we have read your profile on your
online website (https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com) and aware of your great
contribution to this field of work.
We look forward to a positive response. If you can RSVP in 48 hours to
our contact details (info@graceabundantchurch.com) and we will
provide you with
additional information you might require.
PS: Flight arrangement, hotel accommodation, ground transportation and
honorarium will be sorted by the event organizing committee.
In His Grip,
Pastor Dickson Watt
Senior Pastor
Abundant Grace Church
+44 7441 45899
Thank you for this thread… it helped me realize the scam quicker. Here’s the latest email:
Blessings to you xxxxxx,
I am the parish priest of St James’s Roman Catholic Church – I’ve been here for eighteen years. I love being a parish priest here because it’s a place where the gospel is very raw. The challenges facing the Church and the gospel proclamation in a place like this are very much in your face. Our Church is a place of healing and mercy, from which we reach out to many of our brothers and sisters. We are pleased to inform you that we would like to engage you for a speaking engagement at the annual church conventions, and conferences coming up on the 29th, 30th & 31st, of March 2024. The conference is tagged: ‘Big things: How to start small’. So this is where God intervened and said you would be the right speaker.
We would like you to convey your availability and also, we would appreciate it if you get back in touch with us in ample time so we can start corresponding the details.
Thank you and I expect to hear from you soon.
Kindly convey your availability for one of the dates so we can start making more preparations.
Also, we would appreciate it if you get back in touch with us in ample time so we can start corresponding the details.
Thank you, and I expect to hear from you soon.
Remain Blessed.
—
Mgr. Philip Whitmore
+447031809672
St James’s Roman Catholic Church
22 George Street
London
W1U3QY
United Kingdom
I just got this similar scam today and it immediately seemed like a scam!
“Victory Outreach Church UK
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, CF31 3AA
United Kingdom
WEBSITE: CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND NOT ALL INFORMATION HAS BEEN UPDATED
Greetings unto you Pastor Rev. Dr. Kelly U. Farrow
We are Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones of Victory Outreach Church, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at Our upcoming conference tagged “Faith Restoration conference and Banquet” coming up from 17TH to SEPTEMBER 20TH 2024
The Lord has directed us to email you for this assignment after we got your contact on “https://www.drkellyfarrow.org/about” Air ticket, Hotel accommodation, feeding and speaker fee, will be taken care of as soon as you honor this invitation.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Harmon Chapel
Nolton Street, Bridgend,
London, United Kingdom
CF31 3AA
Date : 17TH to SEPTEMBER 20TH 2024
Theme: The Effect of Compromising God’s Standard
We will send you all binding documents including a Letter of Invitation and a speaker Agreement document as soon as you honor our invitation,with your Full names and address,direct telephone number,scan copy of your recent picture for the poster and flyer.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
We serve a God of possibility
Stay Blessed
Pastor Phil Lyndon-Jones
Victory Outreach Church“