As promised, my article on church fraud is live here: Let the Faithful Pray There’s No Fraud.
I’ve been investigating a couple of cases of church fraud lately, and it makes me sad to think that people will steal from churches, of all places. Sadly, many churches make it all too easy for the thief by not having any sort of controls in place to monitor the money and the bookkeeper.
Even a minimal level of controls could prevent many of the church frauds I see. It’s not expensive and it’s not hard. I can only hope that more churches take steps to protect their money.
The church is a safe haven for criminals. Many turn to the church at a time of need to be intercepted by low life con artists.
Edward Murachanian (his office is convientantly located outside a retirement community) an attorney in Brick Township New Jersey Ocean County runs a scam out of Fellowship Chapel in Point Pleasant Beach New Jersey.
When I was going to reveal his scam I was assaulted by his partner in crime Richard Maranitz 170 Duchess Lane Brick, NJ. Maranitz is an internet ordained pastor. http://tcolw.tripod.com/id18.html
They have practiced the art of deception to deceive church members for years.
Report any information of church fraud to the FBI in Washington DC.
Great point. Many fraud incidents could be avoided by churches if they placed a higher priority on managing their finances carefully and utilized, as you mentioned, inexpensive and simple methods. often members of a church are too trusting, choosing to deny that someone in their midst could be merely posing as one of their own in order to reach into their pockets. There are a great deal of churches who sincerely want to manage their finances wisely and in turn help those in need, but then find that a lot of their funds have disappeared or been stolen. There is a great book, Weeds in the Garden, that aims to educate church leaders and members on how to better manage and protect their finances. Weeds in the Garden also has a website which offers services to churches to help them see how protected their finances are from fraud and mismanagement.