The Apostleship of the Seas of the United States of America issued the fraud warning below. Here is a link to their website: http://www.aos-usa.org/
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IMPORTANT:
Please Warn other Port Chaplains & Seafarers' Centers about this Scam which Targets Port Chaplains! (Editor's Note: We received the following alert from our Friends with the North American Maritime Ministry Association (NAMMA). Some of our own AOS Port Chaplains have also been contacted by this person. Please make sure that ALL of your Seafarers' Center Staff, Board and Volunteers are aware of this scam.)
Beware, there is a very persistent "seafarer" calling himself NORMAN. He is calling and emailing from the Philippines. THIS IS FRAUD! Please be on guard if you get a call. Please share this with everyone you might know is not necessarily on the NAMMA list - your staff, volunteers and board who we may not have on our list. It began weeks ago with the ICMA centers world-wide. It comes with an email and then frantic phone calls. "Norman" is saying that he is being referred by Doug Stevenson, Rev. Loring, or Philip. He may be using other names as well. Please note, none of us are requesting this, and it is an attempt to get money wired by MoneyGram. (At least the are not asking for your bank information!)
If you have been contacted with a similar email printed below -DELETE it and ignore it. Though the stories are modified to fit your port destination, they are essentially needing funds to get to a family member funeral.
Thank you!!! Thank you for all you do, Loring Carpenter Interim ED
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FRAUD EMAIL!
Subject: ICMA Hello (Name) How are you now?Our ICMA member Norman ( International Ministry to Seafarers Indonesia ) is on the way now to (Location) to attend His sister funeral.And as far as I know.They are on the way now to U.S. and they have some problem in the Philippine airport.Kindly call them at 011639358870242 or +639358870242 and please help them in any possible way and I will call you as soon as possible.At this time.I'm on a meeting here in Rome until next week. I will call you Monday morning.Thank you very much in advance and God Bless.I refer to you by Rev Carpenter and Rev Vandercook. Douglas B. Stevenson Chairman ICMA International Christian Maritime Association
ANOTHER SCENARIO
This is a real threat to our ministries. It is an elaborate scam. I received two emails yesterday from what I thought was Philip Vandercook, president of NAMMA, asking me to please assist our colleague Norman, from Indonesia who is traveling to Galveston for his sister's funeral. I was out of town for the weekend and not near my office. Then my personal cell phone rang, and on the line was a man who claimed to be "Norman" mentioned in Philip's email. He explained that he and his elderly brother are traveling to Galveston for their sister's funeral but were held up at the US embassy in Manila trying to get a US visa. They only had an Indonsian check and the embassy would not accept it. He said that Philip Vandercook told him I would assist him. Another email came in from Philip asking me to please send them $960US so they can process their visa and I would be reimbursed next week. The phone calls kept coming (caller ID showed a Philippine number). He was acting desperate that time was running out to confirm his flight and needed the money quick. He even called me back to tell me where the nearest money gram location was to where I was vacationing. Scary!
I received the alert from Loring Carpenter and knew for certain it was a scam so the next time the man calling himself "Norman" called me I told him I knew it was a scam and that we were done talking. Please send this to everyone. This man has personal information on us. He used a fake email address to pretend to be Philip Vandercook, he used my personal cell number to contact me to try and pressure me to send the money. Some have already been scammed. Please help us stop this man. I'm giving my evidence to the FBI.
Thank you. Karen Parsons AOS Galveston/Texas City |
