A few years ago I became aware of a speaker scam that was making the rounds, preying on eager speakers by inviting them to give a speech in a distant (usually African) country for a large sum of money. The text varies, but the there were a few constants. The time was short (I suppose to give you less time to figure out that it was a scam) the amount of money large (to prevail upon your natural human greed) and the invitation almost always came (apparently) from a pastor of a church.

That seemed to be the catchy part – it was just a little harder to imagine that a pastor would be in the middle of a scam.

And the further catch was that the scam usually involved a real church and a real pastor – who was blissfully unaware that his or her name was being taken in vain for the scam.

Various people (including myself) researched the too-good-to-be-true invitation and found out by going directly to the source that the said church was not involved – just invoked.

The tip off was almost always the poor English. Some of the first scams came from the UK, so the presumption would have been that the preacher in a UK church would have a decent command of English.

The scam then moved to Africa, and the English got worse, and thus still a tip off – and there were other signs as well. The email address at the end of the message was usually a gmail account, not one connected to the church. The topic had very little connection to what anyone actually speaks about, and thus it didn’t look like a personal invitation (with some research behind it) and so on.

Well, after going quiet for a year or so, the scam has flared up again. I received the following email while on vacation last month. I instantly recognized the format and typical details. The scam part comes later, once you’ve responded. The scammer will ask for a (relatively) small amount of money to cover some fee or process to expedite your work papers, or some such palaver.

So I publish the email in full to let you know that the scam is out there again. Don’t be fooled, and don’t respond. I’ve removed the actual links and numbers so that you won’t be tempted. Or even click accidentally on one of them.

If a speaking invitation seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Gods blessing,We hope this message meets you in good health. I am
Reverend Ziphozihle Siwa,Presiding Bishop of The Methodist Church of
Southern Africa.On behalf of the Church, I am elated to inform you
that we would love to engage your services to speak and educate our
congregation as our goal of organizing this seminar is to enact
success & leadership traits plus motivation in our congregation which
consists business-minded personnel’s, sports aspiring youths and
illustrious women.The event is billed for the month September 2015.

Please, we would gladly like for you to convey to us your
availability for the early Month of September 2015 as it will well fit
in your schedule.Also, please we would as well appreciate if you get
in-touch with us in ample time so we can start corresponding the
details.

Thank you very much and expecting to hear from you soon.

Remain Blessed.

—
Rev Ziphozihle Siwa
(LINK)

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa.
Johannesburg.
South Africa.
(LINK)

“A Christ-healed Africa for the healing of the nations “

Fax: (NUMBER)