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 BULL
STREET
– The art of the Con
These folks had just as good idea as the folks that
were fleecing the Baptists. This Tampa Florida based “Church” armed their salesmen
with verses from the Bible such as the one from Luke 6:38: ‘Give, and it shall
be given unto you’ – along with the promise that if they indeed believed in
the almighty, they would double any funds that they sent to the Greater Ministries
International Church. For the most part, the Baptists in Arizona were only
fleeced out of the cash that they had available. These folks made those criminals
made the ones in Arizona look like “Little Bo Peep” because not only did they
attempt to take everything that the believers had but they also tried to get
them to mortgage their homes to do it.
If the potential donor didn’t have enough money
laying around in cash or a home to borrow on, they would let them put their
offering on a major credit card. Moreover once they had drained the card, they
showed the faithful how to cash in their insurance policy and donate those proceeds
as well. Deborah Bortner, president of the North American Securities Administrators
Association, said in a statement, ‘Always do your homework. Be as skeptical
and careful when you invest with someone who shares your faith as you would
with anyone else.’”[48]
The Greater Ministries International Church fraud did
almost as much damage to elderly Florida residents as the Baptist oriented fraud
did to those sucked into in Arizona. Florida residents lost over $500 million
and probably will never see another nickel. In the meantime they may get some
satisfaction from the fact that Gerald Payne, the brains behind the operation
is going to be serving 27-years in slammer for his efforts.
“Dennis Marlock, a retired fraud investigator
for the Milwaukee police department, says some hustlers scour newspaper death
notices to find out where widows or widowers live. Several days later, the swindler,
dressed as a delivery person, arrives at the survivor's home with a package
containing a Bible or other religious symbol, waiting to be paid. The survivor
assumes the deceased ordered the item before his or her death and pays an outrageous
fee for it.”[49]
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