"I have Bibles here in the warehouse, and the warehouse is due for moving. How many Bibles do you want?"
One day, Brother M received a strange phone call, eager to donate the Bibles. The woman then said, "If you want more, you can drive a car here for a full load of it."
"But I don't have a car," he replied.
"Then send me some travel expenses. How about 2,000 yuan, and I'll handle the rest by myself?"
Brother M, who works in a county CC&TSPM, replied that the church had no money. The woman then said that 1,500 yuan would be fine, or even just 1000 yuan. At this time, Brother M was tempted. He discussed it with his wife before paying but was stopped. His wife said, "You are fooled." As Brother M did not pay, the woman said 800 yuan was fine. At this point, he confirmed that this was a scam, and he refused to answer many later calls from the sister.
He told the Gospel Times, an online Christian newspaper, that when the strange woman called him, their church was carrying out infrastructure work and had posted the church information on the Internet. The woman should have gotten his contact information from the post.
Brother L, a media ministry worker, has been in the same situation as Brother M. L runs a WeChat official account that focuses on Christian social services. One day, a woman added her WeChat account to the WeChat official account. She talked with L, "I have Bibles to offer here. Do you know who needs them?" Brother L mentioned that a grass-roots church needed big-version Bibles. The woman immediately replied, "Yes, it's only for the elderly."
When providing contact information to the grass-roots church, L told the pastor of this church that this was doubtful and to never pay her first. Later, when L contacted the church head, he was very happy, saying he wanted dozens of copies, and the woman promised to give him nearly one hundred with only RMB 200 of the freight fee. But L told him not to pay the money as the woman may be a liar. The church head did not believe it. "Really? It is just 200 yuan."
L followed up and asked the woman if she had delivered the goods. At first, she said yes. Then he asked her for the express tracking number, but she never replied. In the meantime, she also asked him if there were other places where someone wanted the Bible. At this time, Brother L was basically sure that she was a liar, so he asked her to provide the video of the warehouse, and she no longer replied.
In fact, this is not new, and it was used as early as ten years ago. Pastor K who works in a county CC&TSPM, where Brother M also works, was once a victim. Pastor K heard that someone would offer a whole carload of Bibles, which could meet the needs of more than 30 gathering points in the county. As he did not have a car, the liar said that he could help find one, which would cost RMB 2,000. Pastor K paid the money in advance without consulting with his co-workers. After paying the money, he waited for two or three days at the appointed place to pick up the Bible, but he could no longer contact the person who was eager to "donate" the Bibles.
Brother M said that more than ten years ago, RMB 2,000 was not a small amount, as they held a training class at that time, but many participants could not pay the fee of RMB 40 per month and had to bring the food they cooked at home. At first, the deceived pastor did not dare tell other co-workers about it, but later the co-workers reimbursed the deceived money when they learned about it.
Looking back at the experience of being cheated, Brother M thinks that this was due to the pastor’s eagerness for the Bibles for the family of God and also his lack of knowledge and experience dealing with the secular world.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
“我这儿有圣经，仓库搬迁，到期了，你要多少圣经？”
一天，M弟兄接到了一个急切地要捐赠圣经的陌生电话。对方接着说道：“你要得多的话，你弄个车，我给你弄一车。”
“我没有车啊。”
“那你给我发些路费吧，两千元，我再填点儿。”
在县基督教两会任职的M弟兄回复说教会没钱。对方说一千五也可以，实在不行一千也行。这时，M弟兄动心了。支付前他跟妻子商量了一下，被妻子拦阻了。妻子说，支付就上当了。看M弟兄没支付，那位打电话的姊妹又说，八百元也可以。至此，M弟兄确定这是一个骗局，他拒接了那位姊妹后面的多个电话。
M弟兄跟一网络基督教报纸福音时报说，那位陌生女子给他打电话的时期，他们教会正在进行基建事工。因此在网上发布了教会的信息，那位女子应该就是从网上得到了他的联系方式。
M弟兄遇到的情况L弟兄也曾遇到过。L弟兄运营着一个侧重主内社会服务的微信公众号。一天，一位姊妹加了公众号上留的微信号，跟L弟兄开始交流。“我这里有圣经可以奉献，您知道哪里需要吗？”我提到一个基层教会需要大本圣经。那位姊妹立即回复：“是的，老年人专用。”
在向基层教会提供联系方式的时候，我对教会的牧者说说这个不一定是真的，千万不要先给对方钱。后来我再跟教会负责人联系时，那位负责人非常高兴。说他本来想要几十本，而对方答应给他上百本，只是需要200元的运费。我告诉那位负责人先不要付钱，对方可能是骗子。他不相信，“不能吧，就两百块钱”。
我跟进询问那位姊妹是否发货了，她起初说发了；我问她要快递单号，结果就不回复了。期间，她还问我是否有其他地方需要圣经。这时，我基本确定她就是骗子，请她提供一下仓库的视频，她也不再回复。
其实，这不是一个新骗局，早在十几年前就有人用过。M弟兄所在的两会的牧者K就是受害人。那位K牧者听说有人要奉献一车子的圣经，这样就能满足全县三十多个聚会点的需要了。因为自己没有车，对方说可以帮助找车，需要两千元的费用。这位两会的负责人没有跟同工们商量，就先垫付了两千元。付完钱后，这位长老在约定取圣经的地方等待了两三天，却再也联系不到那位急切“捐”圣经的人了。
M弟兄说，放在十几年前，两千元不是一个小数目。当时他们开培训班，参加者每人每月40元都交不上，还要自带粮食。被骗的长老起初没敢跟当地基督教两会的其他同工说这事，但后来同工们得知后，还是把那个被骗的钱给报销了。
回看被骗的经历，M弟兄觉得这是教会牧者为神家起了贪恋圣经的心。也怪教会牧者的见识少，跟外界打交道也不多。
警惕针对教会的“捐圣经”骗局
"I have Bibles here in the warehouse, and the warehouse is due for moving. How many Bibles do you want?"
One day, Brother M received a strange phone call, eager to donate the Bibles. The woman then said, "If you want more, you can drive a car here for a full load of it."
"But I don't have a car," he replied.
"Then send me some travel expenses. How about 2,000 yuan, and I'll handle the rest by myself?"
Brother M, who works in a county CC&TSPM, replied that the church had no money. The woman then said that 1,500 yuan would be fine, or even just 1000 yuan. At this time, Brother M was tempted. He discussed it with his wife before paying but was stopped. His wife said, "You are fooled." As Brother M did not pay, the woman said 800 yuan was fine. At this point, he confirmed that this was a scam, and he refused to answer many later calls from the sister.
He told the Gospel Times, an online Christian newspaper, that when the strange woman called him, their church was carrying out infrastructure work and had posted the church information on the Internet. The woman should have gotten his contact information from the post.
Brother L, a media ministry worker, has been in the same situation as Brother M. L runs a WeChat official account that focuses on Christian social services. One day, a woman added her WeChat account to the WeChat official account. She talked with L, "I have Bibles to offer here. Do you know who needs them?" Brother L mentioned that a grass-roots church needed big-version Bibles. The woman immediately replied, "Yes, it's only for the elderly."
When providing contact information to the grass-roots church, L told the pastor of this church that this was doubtful and to never pay her first. Later, when L contacted the church head, he was very happy, saying he wanted dozens of copies, and the woman promised to give him nearly one hundred with only RMB 200 of the freight fee. But L told him not to pay the money as the woman may be a liar. The church head did not believe it. "Really? It is just 200 yuan."
L followed up and asked the woman if she had delivered the goods. At first, she said yes. Then he asked her for the express tracking number, but she never replied. In the meantime, she also asked him if there were other places where someone wanted the Bible. At this time, Brother L was basically sure that she was a liar, so he asked her to provide the video of the warehouse, and she no longer replied.
In fact, this is not new, and it was used as early as ten years ago. Pastor K who works in a county CC&TSPM, where Brother M also works, was once a victim. Pastor K heard that someone would offer a whole carload of Bibles, which could meet the needs of more than 30 gathering points in the county. As he did not have a car, the liar said that he could help find one, which would cost RMB 2,000. Pastor K paid the money in advance without consulting with his co-workers. After paying the money, he waited for two or three days at the appointed place to pick up the Bible, but he could no longer contact the person who was eager to "donate" the Bibles.
Brother M said that more than ten years ago, RMB 2,000 was not a small amount, as they held a training class at that time, but many participants could not pay the fee of RMB 40 per month and had to bring the food they cooked at home. At first, the deceived pastor did not dare tell other co-workers about it, but later the co-workers reimbursed the deceived money when they learned about it.
Looking back at the experience of being cheated, Brother M thinks that this was due to the pastor’s eagerness for the Bibles for the family of God and also his lack of knowledge and experience dealing with the secular world.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
Caution: 'Donating the Bible' to the Church Is Scam
