These shameless Christmas scammers targeted a vicar

by Tony Levene on 01 December 2011  |  7 comments
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These scammers have absolutely no shame.

It's Christmas – and amid the parties and the presents, many think of those who are less well off, very much less well off, than they are.

My copy editor at my book publisher – she checks spelling and grammar, questions complex sentences, and makes my words look attractive on the printed page – tells me her vicar has focused on charity in his Advent sermons.

He mentioned the appeals from big charities such as the Salvation Army and Crisis. But he also quoted from a hand-written letter he had received at the vicarage sent from Uganda.

This was more gut-wrenching than any of the UK appeals. The teenage girl writer told, in horrendous detail, how her family and many of her fellow villagers had been assaulted, maimed, raped and murdered by rebel soldiers, a scenario tragically all too common in parts of Africa.

This was followed by a promise to pray for the donor as well as the assurance that, if she could afford a good education, when qualified, the writer would spread the word of the Gospel as well as do good in a professional capacity as a result of her schooling.

All it would take was £435 for her enrolment and other fees at a secondary college in Kampala (the Ugandan capital) – so that she could be educated, return to her village and do God's work.

Whose heart could failed to be moved by this?

A classic begging scam

Mine. For I have seen this letter – almost word for word – many times before. It's a classic begging letter scam and appears most frequently around Christmas and Easter, festivals when we think of others.

And because it's not an email spammed to millions but a carefully hand-written letter of four pages, it carries substantial credence. It also appeals to our guilt feelings. After all, what's £435 to a wealthy westerner?

This scam – like most other scams – has been around for years (admittedly the date changes!). There's probably a workshop somewhere in Uganda (or at least that's where they are posted) churning them out by the tens of thousands.

One I have seen was signed by a supposed Florence Naritende. It asks for cash help with the fees she needs for her place at the St Paul's Nursing Training School in Kampala. Florence tells how she was orphaned when rebel troops entered her village. Another version of the letter asks for money for secondary education. The sums vary from around £300 to £500 but always come with details of the fees to be incurred – often down to the laundry costs for the college uniform.

Florence writes: "My mother was raped by 13 rebels while she was pregnant. My father's head was cut off as he was trying to defend my mother. I was raped by their commander." The details of mutilation and murder then become more graphic – I'll spare you these.

She says was adopted by an 82-year-old widow who paid her school fees but cannot help any longer as she is sick. The letter is accompanied by an itemised bill for tuition at the nursing school.

I’m not surprised the vicar was targeted

There are plenty of other examples of this scam and while the details (school, mutilations etc) are altered, the basics remain unchanged.

Now, none of this is a denial of the appalling atrocities that have taken place – and still take place – in some parts of Africa. And there are many legitimate, mainstream UK-based charities trying to help.

But the letter is a scam because even though some of the events happened somewhere in Africa over the past decade or so, there is, for a start, no such nursing school as St Paul's. The enclosed “paperwork” including an “invoice” is the creation of the scamsters' computer.

I'm not surprised a vicar was targeted. The scamsters send these letters to women and men of the Church of England because it is easy to get a list including addresses of vicarages. It's called Crockford's Clerical Directory ( online at just £30 for a year) – it has nearly 30,000 names and addresses. And similar listings are available for others in the caring professions such as doctors and social workers. These letters have also been sent to architects, artists, musicians, even journalists – any group where there's a simple to obtain list.

My friend's vicar now knows his letter is a total phoney. But can you blame anyone with any degree of compassion for being taken in? Not really, and that's what these sick fraudsters play upon.

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