Christians are taught to be generous. But as Pastor Jason Reynolds prepares his Sunday sermon, he wants to warn local churches about a con man.
"The thing that upsets me the most is that he is using good charities and churches who are really good people trying to good things for people in need," Reynolds says.
The scammer recently called Reynolds at Hillcrest Community Church in Newton. The scammer claimed he recently attended services there. He said his car ran out of gas near a Wal Mart in Kansas City. He told Reynolds his mother-in-law had just died and he and his wife had no cash.
"He gets very high pressure about it," Reyolds says. "That's when he throws in that he's with the military and he'll be awol if he doesn't get back to Wichita and McConnell Air Force Base in time."
The man wanted the money wired to him at the Wal Mart.
"He was pretty convincing," Reynolds says.
But rather than wire the money, Reynolds asked a pastor friend in Kansas City to go to the Wal Mart and help the man, who turned out not to be there.
Reynolds is also chaplain for Harvey County law enforcement which contacted area churches. The cops found out that several others were targeted, and at least two fell for the scam.
Reynolds says the man appears to call from pre-paid cell phones. He also uses various names, but the story is always similar.
"Somebody who is mobile like that or is calling from different numbers is going to be hard to catch," Reynolds says. "Probably the best way to protect people is by getting the information out and make people aware,"
Reynolds says his church has a policy of never wiring money to people. When people need help with bills the policy is to directly pay the party they owe.
