When London Calls

Big Ben, London, England

A dear friend of mine called me to say that she received a ministry invitation from a ministry in London, England. They visited her Web site and extended an invitation for her to come speak at a conference. The first thing ministers do is check the validity of the ministry. There are lots of scams out there. Unfortunately when you get an email from Africa or India chances are it's a scam. But this time a ministry from London came calling and the ministry was legitimate. We followed links all over the Internet and confirmed this was a real church, with real people and a real pastor.

They offered to pay hotel/airfare and provide ground transportation and a sizable honorarium. All she had to do was apply for a work visa or work permit. Once that had been completed they would wire three-fourths of the honorarium to her.

Something still didn't sound right so we asked a third party. A minister who has traveled internationally told us it didn't quite sound right. That she had a similar offer once before but it didn't fall through.

Come to find out it was a scam.

What these people want is your personal information.

They don't want you to come and bring the glory of God to London.

They find legitimate churches and ministries and pretend to be extending you an invitation on their behalf.

They know all the right things to say.

The offer very nice honorariums. Very nice.

They even create very nice conference themes with dynamic topics for you to minister from. 

But there are a couple of things that tipped off our international minister.

• The email address to the government agency in London was a gmail account. Government addresses in London end in .gov.uk.
• There was no office phone to contact. Every phone number was a direct cell number. My friend tried to call and was not able to reach anyone.
• The conference was just a month away. Who does this? Scammers. They want to create a sense of urgency and hopefully disengage good sense long enough for you to remit your valuable personal information.

I know you were aware of the Africa and India scams. Well here's one more coming out of the United Kingdom. Use wisdom, ask somebody else if you're unsure and always follow-up! My friend is going to contact the church in London and let them know scammers are using their ministry as a cover!

As always, be blessed ministers of God!