UK Speaker SCAM: Church in UK looking for a speaker for an upcoming leadership workshop; Tier 5 Work Permit fees required via Western Union. Here’s the full story:
On May 15, 2012, I was solicited by a church in the UK (via my website) to speak at their upcoming leadership workshop. A series of emails went back and forth, containing various details and expectations. In order to speak there, I would need a Tier 5 Work Permit from the UK Border Agency and because the event was quickly approaching, I was introduced by email to someone at the parish who works for the UK Border Agency and can get expedited processing for my application.
I was emailed an official 52-page PDF application for a Tier 5 Work Permit with specific instructions on how to fill it out. The form is legitimate and you can find documentation online confirming that only a UK employer can submit such an application. Once I had filled it out and gotten passport photos made, I was asked to send 583 GBP via Western Union so she could submit the application and pay the fee in cash.
They said they had a sponsor and offered to pay me $10,000 USD as a speaking fee, along with all travel expenses. This seems high for a church but does fall within my standard fee structure (at least for domestic events), so it didn’t seem too unusual at the time. Here are all the names and email addresses of the people I communicated with:
- Reverend Michael Silver rev.michaelsilver@gmail.com
- Reverend Brian Moody revbrianmoody199@gmail.com
- Reverend Phil Dunning revphildunning@gmail.com
- Edward Smith eechurch@hotmail.com
- Patricia Coleman UK Border Agency p.coleman@workmail.com (real name verified by Western Union)
- Susan Aires Dransfield Novelty Company dransfieldnoveltyco@london.com
- Phylis Kamps 321-200-1024 (mobile)
Here is a blog post that details how these same people have done this dozens of times since 2010. At the time of this writing there are 94 comments on their post and I will be adding my own shortly. I have included a number of emails below so you can get an idea of how these people communicate.
Email #1: Initial Solicitation
Name: Rev.Michael Silver
Email: rev.michaelsilver@gmail.com
Message: I am Reverend Michael Silver , presiding Minister of the Emmanuel Evangelical (Baptist) Chapel, Newport, United Kingdom. We are pleased to inform you that we would like to engage you to speak at our Church Lunch event here in Newport coming up on the 1st of June and we are also arranging our ‘Leadership development Program’ workshop on the 2nd & 3rd of June 2012.
Please we would like you to convey to us your availability for one of the dates as it can fit in your schedule. Also, please we would as well appreciate if you get back in-touch with us in ample time so we can start corresponding the details.
Thank you and expecting to hear from you soon.
Remain Blessed
Reverend Michael Silver
+447031873786
Emmanuel Evangelical (Baptist) Chapel,
Rutland Place,
Newport,
NP20 2EL,
Wales.
United Kingdom
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9.
Email #2: Initial Request for Money
Good day Patrick, I understand that you are Emmanuel Evangelical Church’s guest for their upcoming conference, Edward Smith informed me earlier, I have undergone this process for their guests in the past as well prior to this time as well so below are the details.
I have undergone this process for people prior to this time as well so below are the details. (It is a pity though that you do not have your Swiss passort intact and up-to-date as you would have been waived for this fee).
Our Government (United Kingdom) Main Application Fee for a UK work permit is £488 and £95 for homeland fee making an overall sum of £583, You should understand that as a United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand & European citizens holding their international passport, entrance permits are at a reduced fee at rate given above, other nationalities pay more. I will do the application and payment in your name at our Consulate and send you necessary binding documents.
Usually, It takes between 1-14 weeks to get a permit depending on the category such permit may fall into, But if we process expressly and I append the application as a staff it will take just about one week and a maximum of two weeks give or take some delays in courier or so since it is categorized as ‘ministerial/religious’ under the UK Tier 5 work permit, It will take a week and a few days to process. If you are ready to proceed (which I advise you should) We would as well need you to send to us the below stated documents.
Full Name of applicant:
Passport Number:
invitation Letter from Sponsor:
Now, you will have to make the application fees payment and I will later send you the official UK TIER 5 WORK PERMIT FORM and the UKBA SCREENING FORM as an allied country citizen you do not need to fill the immigration assessment form as you are already eligible. We might only need your thumbprints at the United kingdom border on entry into the UK.
Please, be swift with your response because you know documents after been processed by the UK immigration might delay a bit, give or take 2-3days, It would be advisable you start processes a bit ahead of time.
Have a Wonderful day.
Patricia Coleman.
United Kingdom Border Agency.
N.A.
p.coleman@workmail.com
790-871-7081
Email #3: Second Request for Money
Good Morning Reverend, Deacon Edward, At the start of work today, I was notified by the issuing dept. that Patrick’s work permit cannot be issued out as yet, Non-Briton Immigrants coming into the United Kingdom and taking up a legally paid job will need to secure their stay with a bond otherwise referred to as a repatriation fee, And since Patrick falls under such category as she is non-British immigrant, The Home office has required that such applicants pay a refundable sum of 2,500GBP as a ‘Bond’ to enact their stay. As soon as they get back to their respective countries, the fee will be paid back to them in full. This law has been in the books for a while but it wasn’t effective for a long time now, But the new excos at the Consul has decreed it should be applicable and be 100% effective henceforth for working immigrants applying for the work permit.
I am emailing you now so you can find a way to forward to me the funds so I can make the payments asap since you have advised that time is of essence in this application. I will forward to you the ‘bond holding letter’ in the name of the applicant which is Patrick, he will be able to claim the funds at the USA Consul when he gets back home.
Warren Germain already sent me the funds for his bond, He will get the documents today, I have forwarded to him the fedex tracking number so he could monitor as well (Just informing you).
Reverend, Edward, send the funds to me on Patrick’s behalf as he might be relunctant to send such amount of money, So I need you to forward the funds on his behalf, Once he is back in the USA the bond will be liquidated and you will negotiate on how to have the funds back.
PLEASE REPLY SOONEST !!!
Patricia Coleman.
United Kingdom Border Agency.
N.A.
ukba.patriciacoleman@workmail.com
790-871-7081
Final Notes
It should be noted that there were well over 50 or 60 emails involved in this process, involving Reverend Michael Silver, Edward Smith and Patricia Coleman. Many details were discussed. I was even sent a hotel confirmation at the Park Plaza Cardiff (Greyfriars Road, Cardiff, CF10 3AL, United Kingdom) along the way. So the whole thing appeared completely legitimate at the time. I would even say it was more organized than other events I have spoken at.
So, what can I say? They got me. I’m embarrassed. In the end, it’s not that big of a deal. The money transfer cost me $1048 USD (Western Union is a rip-off) so it’s not really that much money, but that’s not the point.
My speaking career has taken me to every major city in the USA and cities across Canada and Mexico, as well as destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. I get many solicitations that seem “too good to be true” so I can’t really filter on that criteria. Here are the red flags which I ignored:
- Public email addresses only (gmail, hotmail and workmail).
- No mention of the leadership workshop on the church’s website.
- I was requested to send money urgently to an individual.
When I was invited to speak in India, I had to get a VISA first and it cost me $160 USD, but I made those arrangements directly with the Indian Consulate in San Francisco. So my learning point is that I will NEVER send money to an individual again.
I have filed a complaint with Western Union but have heard they can’t do much. It doesn’t really make sense to me. The person who picks up the funds has to show identification verifying their identity. That means there must be something the authorities can track. But who’s going to hunt that down? Anyway, if anything comes of it, I will update this post.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the recipient DID pick up the funds in the UK. So I’m sure Patricia Coleman actually exists and I’m also sure she was in the UK on May 29, 2012.
Did this scam happen to you?
If you have had a similar experience, please tell your story in the comments below. I am publishing this post to hopefully help other speakers avoid this situation in the future. Thank you.
As a UK-based writer, I haven’t had any of these scam emails – though I’ve had my share of others. A couple of things jumped out at me from these ones though, and I hope I can offer a couple of tips to speakers who are trying to spot genuine invitations from fake. I can’t speak for the South Africa emails, but the UK ones are almost definitely NOT originating from the UK!
The clues lie in the phone and fax numbers. Any phone number beginning with +44 7 is a mobile (cell) phone. +44 207, +44 203 and +44 8 (except +44 800) are UK numbers that can be redirected to international destinations (call manager services are often used by non-UK scammers to enable them to have ‘real’ UK phone numbers). You should be very suspicious of anyone contacting you with these phone numbers.
Western Union transfers do not require the sender to know the postal address the recipient has registered with WU. So, while the recipient might give you a UK postal address, they could actually be collecting the money in any city or country that has WU agent offices.
But the big hint, for me, was the wording of the emails. Almost every single one asked speakers to ‘honor’ the invitation! A legitimate UK organization (or organisation as is the more common spelling on this side of the pond) would ask you to ‘honour’ it! A little detail, but worth bearing in mind!
I hope these little details help speakers to weigh up future requests!
We got the same email invite. Do not fall for this sam. It’s sad that these people have to do this kind of thing to get money.
New Glory Tabernacle Church
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT
Phone +442071005756
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com/
Grace and Peace be unto you PROPHETESS PEARLIE ROBINSON,
We are Apostle Chris Rowland and Mary Rowland of New Glory Tabernacle
Church London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our
guest speaker at this year GRACE GLOBAL 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.openheavenoutreachinternational.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
New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT,
London, United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 7th to 9th of June 2013 See website
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com
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.newglorytabernacle.com.More update on this year conference is
coming soon
Remain Blessed
Apostle Chris Rowland
+442071005756
I got fairly far down the road with this from New Covenant Church, UK. Different names, same emails. I even got a letter of agreement and a lot of details on the conference (the AV they’d have on-site, etc.). When they mentioned someone on staff had connections with the border agency, I started searching and found your post…thank goodness. I appreciate you writing this and saving me a lot of time and frustration.
Can you believe it? They contacted me AGAIN! Here is the email:
Name: Rev, Abraham Madet
Email: madetabraham@gmail.com
Phone:
Event Date: 26th -28th April 2013
Event Location:
Message body:
Hello Dearest,
Blessing be onto you. I am Rev. Abraham S. Madet, the presiding
minister of the Eleventh Hour Ministry
We are hosting a conference come 26th, 27th and 28th of April and
we are pleased to notify you that you have been chosen by our Event
Organizing Committee to speak at this event and after visiting your
website, we received the Lords direction to invite you to speak in
this event and we also believe you are as well more than capable to
deliver in this occasion,We have decided among the Event Organizing
Committee to invite you to this program.
As I earlier stated, the program is billed to hold on the 26th,27th
and the 28th of April2013 and we have also invited other notable
speakers including Robert Williams as well as Dan Micheal and in the
process of getting 2 others who is in the middle of an agreement with
us for this program, As an inspirational and motivational speaker
myself, I will also be speaking at this conference.
The conference theme has been carefully chosen by the Lord
inspiration due to the backdrop of the present situation in the United
Kingdom and this year’s conference has been tagged ‘How to stay focus
when others lose focus: Holding on to God when things fall apart. And
the keynote is : Survival instinct in an ailing Economy.
Please confirm your availability for this event and the date that you
will be available in-between this 3 days so we can put it on our
website and start to design posters as well as hand bills, If you do
agree to this contract we would also need a picture of you to put up
in posters and flyers prior to the event date. You will only be
speaking once in the three day conference. We have budgeted 24,500USD
for your speaking fee and it is not regarding to your standard fees,
Our fees are based on budget and we are not biased with our speakers
fee, We budget for every speaker according to what the Event
Organizing committee deem fit.
All travel arrangements such as Flight fare, Speaking fee deposit as
well as Hotel accommodation will be taken care of as soon as you honor
this invitation.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:
You are blessed.
Rev. Abraham S. Madet
Eleventh Hour Ministry
http://www.ehministry.org
I was almost a victim I got an email this morning. I kept saying there names sounded familiar. I went to there website then Google their names. I responded the email with a series of questions. However after reading this. When the Lord sees fit to have me travel out of the us he’ll provide the way. Thank you
I received the same invite. I thank the Lord for the leading of the Holy Spirit to have me research the church.
New Glory Tabernacle Church
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT
Phone +442071005756
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com/
Grace and Peace be unto you Apostle Tammy Morgan,
We are Apostle Chris Rowland and Mary Rowland of New Glory Tabernacle
Church London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our
guest speaker at this year GRACE GLOBAL 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://tammymorgan.wix.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
New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT,
London, United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 7th to 9th of June 2013 See website
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com
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.newglorytabernacle.com.More update on this year conference is
coming soon
Remain Blessed
Apostle Chris Rowland
+442071005756
I Got this email this morning and started contacting Pastors I knew to verfiry it and searched the internet it’s for sure a total scam
Contact Us
——————————————–
Name: Apostle Chris Rowland
——————————————–
Email: apostlechris@newglorytabernacle.com
——————————————–
Comments: New Glory Tabernacle Church
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT
Phone +442071005756
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com/
Grace and Peace be unto you Pastor Wells,
We are Apostle Chris Rowland and Mary Rowland of New Glory Tabernacle
Church London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our
guest speaker at this year GRACE GLOBAL 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://tabernacleofdeliveranceinc.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
New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT,
London, United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 7th to 9th of June 2013 See website
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com
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.newglorytabernacle.com.More update on this year conference is
coming soon
Remain Blessed
Apostle Chris Rowland
+442071005756
——————————————–
I wanted to thank you so much for posting this. I was thinking this felt like a scam but I wasn’t sure since we have never received a scam speaking inquiry before.
Thomas Frey is a futurist keynote speaker and received this email on April 4th, 2013.
Blessings to you from the United Kingdom , I am Bishop Allan
Wilson,The Presiding Minister of The New Covenant Church ,Bracknell
United Kingdom. We are pleased to inform
you that we would like to engage you to perform and motivate our
church congregation and members of our community at an event scheduled
to be held here in New Covenant Church,It also coincides with the
Church’s annual conference and launching of the Church’s new
auditorium .
This event is coming up on the 28th 29th and 30th of May 2013.
The conference is tagged: ‘Big things: How to start small’.
We heard about you from a church member of ours who is also a
member of the YMF outreach , she told us you can perform at this event
and also will be a huge impact and
this fit-in for our event ,we also checked out your website and are
impressed by the things we saw .
Please we would like you to convey to us your availability for one
of the dates as it can fit in your schedule. Also, please we would as
well appreciate if you get back in-touch with us in ample time so we
can start corresponding the details.
Thank you and expecting to hear from you soon.
NOTE : We are aware you are NOT based here in the United Kingdom and
we will be responsible for your flight and other expenses
Remain Blessed.
Bishop Allan Wilson
+44 7023011679
http://www.newcovenantbracknell.com
Crowthorne Road North
Bracknell
Berks
RG12 7AU
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9
Then we received this one from him the next day before we figured out this was a scam:
Thanks for writing back Thomas Frey,We are glad you are
considering to perform at our church event here in the UK . We are
assured you all will add more glamor to the occasion and we would also
be a blessing to you as well .A member of our congregation who is also
a member of the event organizing committee suggested your name and
also gave us your website which we visited and impressed by what we
saw .
The event will be held for three days as written in our
previous email it is billed to hold on the 28th 29th and 30th of May
this year,you are to choose any of the three days of the event to
perform as the dates are flexible and also if you can perform for the
three days we will be more grateful .Yes the Church website has not
been updated,this will be updated as soon as we have confirmed all the
guest coming to this event, as their pictures and brief biography will
be on the church website and also on the flyers .
We are expecting about 300-400 guests and the event will be
held in our new church auditorium ,The Auditorium will also be
launched at the commencement of this event. Our member who referred us
to you told us you will have a tremendous impact at this event , We
checked out your website and we were convinced that you fit in to the
Theme of the event which is “Big things : How to start small.
About the Theme of the event ” Big things : How to start
small ,We came about this topic due to the recent economy situation in
the world and especially here in the United Kingdom , Business are
crumbling,people are loosing hope, some are even running away , We
believe with your speaking experience,you will lift up spirits and
motivate everyone. Yes we are aware of your state and the Church EOC
came to the conclusion that you are allowed to come with an
accompanying person with all expenses on the church, this expenses
will not be deducted out of your budgeted speaking fee.
We are still on the process of bringing motivational speakers and
more gospel singers and performers to this event.
This event has always been held but this is the first time we will
be inviting international guests . The attendees of this event will be
the Church congregation and also members of our local community.The
Budgeted speaking fee for EACH international speakers and performers
coming for this event is USD 16,500 EXCLUDING all other expenses .
The Church will take care the flight and accommodation and this will
be taken care of as soon as you confirm your availability . There is a
number below my signature and i am open for phone calls anytime of the
day .As soon as you confirm your availability for this event ,the
Church event organizing committee will contact you with necessary
binding documents.
Feel free to email more questions and we will be glad to respond .
Remain Blessed.
Bishop Allan Wilson
+44 7031873786
http://www.newcovenantbracknell.com
Crowthorne Road North
Bracknell
Berks
RG12 7AU
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9
And then we were contacted by Edward Smith:
Greetings to you Deb Frey .
To perform or speak at a Church event here in the United Kingdom, you need a temporary work permit, it is a new law and process and the circular was distributed to all religious arms around. Since you will be paid for the presentation, it is compulsory by law you get a temporary work permit, you can read this on the United Kingdom Border Agency website , we will rather comply by law. I am aware as a United State citizen, you do not require visa to enter into the United Kingdom as you will be stamped on arrival, but a work permit is duely required, you can check into that online .
I already filled your questionnaire
Do get back to us with any question, we will gladly clarify.
Edward Smith
FOR EOC
New Glory Tabernacle Church
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT
Phone +442071005756
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com/
Grace and Peace be unto you Seer Emma Gale,
We are Apostle Chris Rowland and Mary Rowland of New Glory Tabernacle
Church London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our
guest speaker at this year GRACE GLOBAL 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://emmagaleministriesinternational.webs.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
New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT,
London, United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 7th to 9th of June 2013 See website
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com
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.newglorytabernacle.com.More update on this year conference is
coming soon
Remain Blessed
Apostle Chris Rowland
+442071005756
The above scam email was received yesterday. (14 April 2013) SHAME! SHAME! on them!!! Thank God I didn’t respond!
Got the same e-mail.
What made me suspicious is the website they said they heard about me from is under construction. My name and lessons have been removed during the remodel. I wondered what the hook was. Your visa fee answered my question. Sorry you got taken. Thanks for the warning.
Bishop J.
———————–
New Glory Tabernacle Church
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT
Phone +442071005756
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com/
Grace and Peace be unto you Bishop Jay Staab ,
We are Apostle Chris Rowland and Mary Rowland of New Glory Tabernacle
Church London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our
guest speaker at this year GRACE GLOBAL 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.endtimesministries.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
New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT,
London, United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 7th to 9th of June 2013 See website
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com
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.newglorytabernacle.com.More update on this year conference is
coming soon
Remain Blessed
Apostle Chris Rowland
Yeah they tryed to get me on this too… Thanks for sharing folks it helped me confirm what I was feeling the Spirit saying to me… They are hoping that we are “greedy’ for money is the game… AKA “confidence game” from the streets to the people of God… SMH I pray God delivers them all from their ways and uses them to be a true voice for Him… ~Shalom
You guys are a blessing. Just got the same message from Apostle Chris Rowland +442071005756
at New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall, Harvey Toad Road, London, N10 1LT, London, UK
You guys are a true blessing.
HalleluYAH
Sunday I got the same message from Apostle Chris Rowland +442071005756
at New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall, Harvey Toad Road, London, N10 1LT, London, UK. Thanks for the confirmation that it was a scam.
Be Blessed,
Thank you for having the guts to publish what happened to you to expose the devil for the liar he is. I received this same email this morning and when I tried to clik on the link to the website it kept coming up as an error. Immediately I felt this was a scam but I waited until the so called “Apostle Chris Rowland” called me to tell me he was sending me the documents and contract to sign. I’m sure he was going to lower the boom then, but I have never sent any money to travel anywhere and I travel to preach internationally all the time. What amazes me is how these people can lie in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is the fear of God? I began searching the web and tonight I finally landed upon this post exposing them. Thank you brother for helping someone else not have to go throu what you went through. May the bless you and your ministry. The money you spent will not be lost in vain. You will reap 100 fold because you thought you were sowing into the kingdom of God. They will lose big-time. Here is the letter I received. This is the work of the devil.
New Glory Tabernacle Church
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT
Phone +442071005756
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com/
Grace and Peace be unto you Evangelist Taylor,
We are Apostle Chris Rowland and Mary Rowland of New Glory Tabernacle
Church London, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our
guest speaker at this year GRACE GLOBAL 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.feedmsheep.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
New Glory Tabernacle Church Hall
Address : Harvey Toad Road,
London, N10 1LT,
London, United Kingdom
Date of Conference: 7th to 9th of June 2013 See website
http://www.newglorytabernacle.com
Topic: God of Hope
Please know that everything you want to know about Work Permits and payments for same is done on the UK GOV home page and you pay for these yourself using Secure Pay so anything else is a SCAM and people using God for money. He will get them and they will burn in hell.
I thought it might be a scam when I got the first email but I do get all kinds of weird requests. The first clue was when they spoke of how much they would pay when I am sought after as a fundraiser and have given millions. Since I do so many charity events, we are pretty through at researching them to see if they are deserving. This seemed obvious so I googled church scams myself and found your blog. Personally, I would like to meet these people face to face and give them an inspirational experience that will sorely remember every time they try to type… or better yet it would be poetic justice to convince them to send even more money this way… any ideas? Just saying.
I just received this email this morning. I was just doing my research now when I found this page. We have never been asked to speak in the UK before and I needed more information to take to my employer. This was an odd request for us because this church was doing a “leadership event” and my employer gives keynote talks for healthcare. I also found no information about the event on their website, so that added to my skepticism. Thank you for posting this scam!
Here is the email I received today. It was an inquiry sent through our website to my inbox – May 15, 2013 at 5:48am (Pacific time zone in Washington state, USA)
Name
Bishop Allan Willson
Subject
Speaking Inquiry
Organization
New Covenant Church
E-mail
bishopallanwillson@gmail.com
How did you hear about us?
Colleague/Friend/Family
What is your area of interest? (check all that apply)
Speaking
Message
Blessings to you from the United Kingdom , I am Bishop Allan Wilson,The Presiding Minister of The New Covenant Church ,Bracknell United Kingdom. We are pleased to inform you that we would like to engage you to perform and motivate our church congregation and members of our community at an event scheduled to be held here in New
Covenant Church,It also coincides with the Church’s annual conference and launching of the Church’s new auditorium .
This event is coming up on the 13th 14th and 15th of June 2013. The conference is tagged: ‘Big things: How to start small’.
We heard about you from a church member of ours who is also a member of the YMF outreach , she told us you can perform at this event and also will be a huge impact and this fit-in for our event ,we also checked out your website and are impressed by the things we saw .Please we would like you to convey to us your availability for one of the dates as it can fit in your schedule. Also, please we would as well appreciate if you get back in-touch with us in ample time so we can start corresponding the details.
Thank you and expecting to hear from you soon.
NOTE : We are aware you are NOT based here in the United Kingdom and we will be responsible for your flight and other expenses
Remain Blessed.
Bishop Allan Wilson
+447062047751
http://www.newcovenantbracknell.com
Crowthorne Road North
Bracknell
Berks
RG12 7AU
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9
Yes I got contacted by Jubilee Church of Grantham to do a conference by a Pastor Eric Whittaker, who appears to be real guy, but when I googled the New Life Tabernacle in London which the very first e-mail came in by that name for the church in Grantham. The website of the Grantham church says nothing about the conference coming in July. Eric Whittaker’s wife is supposed to work for the UK Border Agency. Bummer I before I saw this site I did send them money by a stupid Money gram. But they won’t get any more.
God Bless you brother.
Same story as many before me. They seem legit until you pay close attention… poor grammar, shady responses to emails, elusive answers.
Im spreading the message to all within the industry.
One thing I have learned from past experience is that if it sounds too good be true it usually is. And in all of my husband’s speaking career we have never paid money out of pocket for him to speak. The travel has to be covered up front along with 1/2 of the deposit before it is considered a booked speaking event.
What I want to know is with all this scam going on, why haven’t the authorities caught the culprits. This is so widespread and has been going on for quite some time. It seems some agency should be getting involved in stopping these people.
What they do is very neatly misuse existing people or their names for their scam. We called the UK professor mentioned by him because we did not trust directly the fact that we got an email from a yahoo or gmail account.
You have to do good research, and cannot dismiss them for that reason only: we just got some nice assignments from South Korea, and there everybody uses yahoo accounts to send also their business communication.
Thank you Pastor for your message and warning. I was contacted through my website for the same reason but didn’t feel right in my spirit about it. I contacted my son who did some investigating and he too felt something fishy. It wasn’t until we found this site that it was confirmed.
Below is the correspondence we received to hopefully thwart off these people again.
——————————————————–
EMAIL
From: JUBILEE LIFE CHURCH LONDON
Date: May 22, 2013 6:37:36 AM GMT-04:00
To: Gordon Grieve
Subject: HARVEST OF GLORY AND PRAYER CONFERENCE 2013
Dear Rev. Gordon E. Grieve,
Thanks so much for confirming to be our guest speaker
for this year HARVEST OF GLORY AND PRAYER CONFERENCE 2013. This is our maiden
conference and you are the only international speaker invited,
the rest are local speakers here in our country. We are very
excited and happy to have such a wonderful personality in our midst.
The event organizing committee had a meeting few Hours ago to
deliberate on getting you available here in the United Kingdom after
receiving your confirmation letter. 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 take care of you and any assistant you may wish to
accompany you, as to regards hotel accommodation expenses, feeding and
ground transportation.You will be responsible for your assistant’s
airline ticket as yours will be taken care of by the event organizing
committee.
You are advised by the Event Organizing committee to immediately
contact my wife Dr Pat Whittaker who works with the UK BORDER AGENCY 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 in regards to
the process.
Name : Dr Pat Whittaker
Address:52227 Border Road , London
Postcode:SW16 4YL
Country :United Kingdom
Email: ukbordercontrolagency@britmail.net
You will be able to sell your merchandise. such as books, Cd’s and
other items, the expected attendance is 1500 congregations.
Kindly forward me few of your recent pictures for conference posters
and advertisement.
Please confirm to us the closest Airport to your location so we can
start making arrangements in booking your flight ticket. Understand that
you need to expedite action so preparation can move smoothly. Do not
hesitate to call me +447931045044.
We await your earliest response
Remain Blessed
Pastor Eric Whittaker
+447931045044
——————————————————————————–
LETTER OF INVITATION
JUBILEE CHURCH LIFE CENTRE
1-5 LONDON ROAD
GRANTHAM
LINCOLNSHIRE
NG31 6EY
UNITED KINGDOM
PHONE +447931045044
HTTP://WWW.JUBILEEGRANTHAM.CO.UK
May 22nd 2013
LETTER OF INVITATION
Jubilee Church Life Centre officially invites Rev. Gordon E. Grieve to be our guest speaker at the HARVEST OF GLORY AND PRAYER CONFERENCE 2013 coming up here in United Kingdom.
Jubilee Church Life Centre
1-5 London Road
Grantham
Lincolnshire
NG31 6EY
London UK
Dates of Conference: 19th of July to 21st of July 2013
For: Jubilee Church Life Centre
Host: Pastor Eric Whittaker
Event Organizing Committees
Signature:
———————————————————-
CONTRACT
May 22nd 2013
CONTRACT AGREEMENT
This letter of Agreement is made and entered into by Rev. Gordon E. Grieve (hereinafter referred to as the” Speaker”) of USA (Herein referred to as the “Presenter”) Pastor Eric Whittaker organization whose name is Jubilee Church Life Centre London, United Kingdom.
The contact person for matters of this agreement is Pastor Eric Whittaker who will act as an agent for the presenter.
ENGAGEMENT: HARVEST OF GLORY AND PRAYER CONFERENCE 2013
CONFERENCE THEME: “SHOW THE LIGHT AND THE PEOPLE WILL FIND THE WAY”
Host Church: Jubilee Church Life Centre
Contact: Pastor Eric Whittaker
Speaker: Rev. Gordon E. Grieve
Function: HARVEST OF GLORY AND PRAYER CONFERENCE 2013
Appearance Date(s): 19th of July to 21st of July 2013
Location: Jubilee Church Life Centre
1-5 London Road
Grantham
Lincolnshire
NG31 6EY
United Kingdom
Audience Size / Demographics: 1150
TOPIC: GOD OF HOPE
Time Table / Duration:
19th July 2013 – approximately ____________ 12.00pm – 1.00pm
20th July 2013 – approximately ____________ 4.00pm – 5.00pm
21st th July 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
READ CAREFULLY:
Travel Expense: Presenter will provide business class airfare for Speaker
UK Work Permit: 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 WORK PERMIT 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 UK WORK PERMIT.
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. Gordon E. Grieve
Signature: ________________________
Date: ________________________
In his Infinite Mercy
Host: Pastor Eric Whittaker
Event Organizing Committees
Signature:
Eric whiett
That is the exact e-mail I got as well, with just the name changed. I messaged the church and they got back to me that it was a scam. God Bless you so glad you got out of this scam.