Scam artist fleeces a church’s flock
He wasn’t there to pray, but to prey.
And, by the time the delivery driver pulled into the church parking lot that Wednesday morning, the con was already under way at Raleigh’s Crossroads United Methodist Church in Greensboro, which was almost stuck with a $1,300 bill for expensive cell phones.
“This is unbelievable,” said Crossroads senior Pastor Phyllis Coates.
The day before, a “James Berry” had ordered three cell phones at $399 each from Sprint, to be billed to the church and delivered overnight, Coates said.
No one came to the door when the delivery service driver knocked on March 11. He went on to his next delivery, to nearby Kmart, oblivious to the man parked nearby, watching him leave, Coates said.
Then just as the delivery service driver was getting out of his truck at Kmart, a man rushed up to him, asking if he had been at the church making a delivery, saying he had just missed him.
The man showed the delivery driver an ID — and got the package.
Police say it was the old “mail drop” scam in which someone figures out the delivery pattern in a certain area and places unauthorized orders based on the premise that if something goes wrong, he’s not out anything.
“This happens frequently” at residential addresses, said Detective R.M. Steed of the Greensboro Police Department.
Coates, who opens each and every piece of mail delivered to the mailbox in front of the church, usually junk mail, because business is conducted with a post office box, was shocked to see a bill for $1,300 from Sprint.
For the next three hours she talked to one Sprint supervisor after another.
“I said, 'How did they do this? I can’t even order anything without a credit card,’” Coates said about the church charges. “The man told me, 'Ya’ll have good credit.’ ”
Sprint has since forgiven the charges, but Coates wants others to be vigilant in watching out for scams. They’re often hard to solve, because just like in this case, the delivery driver couldn’t provide a good description of the man.
It used to be that even people with a hard heart treated houses of worship with reverence, Coates said.
“Drugs and alcohol and greed have taken reverence out of the picture.”
Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Be a doubting Thomas
Fraud is increasingly aimed at houses of worship. One of the most common usually tugs at the heart: A man approaches the church, needing bus fare to get to a sick or dying relative.
To guard against such scams, check stories. Ask for a person and a phone number that can be called in the destination city so you can verify a relative really is dying, a child really is sick or that such people really exist, says Mark Sills of FaithAction International House, a nonprofit center for cross-cultural learning that provides information on interfaith issues.
“There are so many people in honest need these days, we must be good stewards of the resources we have, so that our charitable dollars really go where they can help real people with real needs,” Sills said.
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