More than 125,000 people did pay. From 2011 to 2015, their more than 400,000 transactions poured more than $7 million dollars into the pocket of site creator Benjamon Rogovy. The trouble was, the popular site—which eclipsed even the International House of Prayer in its Facebook following—was a fraud. A counter-Facebook page, the Christian Prayer Center Scam, went up in 2012.
For four years, anyone with a prayer request could pay the Christian Prayer Center (CPC)—a website with nearly 1.3 million Facebook fans—between $9 and $35 to intercede for them.
Visitors to the site (as well as its Spanish-language sister site, Oracion Cristiana) saw testimonials from religious leaders and laypeople who claimed that God gave them healthy babies, winning lottery tickets, money for mortgage payments, and clean HIV tests and cancer scans after they paid for prayer, according to the Washington State attorney general’s office.
More than 125,000 people did pay. From 2011 to 2015, their more than 400,000 transactions poured more than $7 million dollars into the pocket of site creator Benjamon Rogovy.
The trouble was, the popular site—which eclipsed even the International House of Prayer in its Facebook following—was a fraud. A counter-Facebook page, the Christian Prayer Center Scam, went up in 2012.
The testimonials were fake. The photos of happy customers were stock footage. And “Pastor John Carlson,” who sent weekly emails and had a LinkedIn page, was made up. Correspondence was signed by the non-existent “Pastor Eric Johnston.”
Customers will be getting their money back in full, attorney general Bob Ferguson announced on Thursday, if they apply for a refund by June 12.
“I believe in the power of prayer,” he stated. “What I do not believe in and what I will not tolerate is unlawful businesses that prey upon people—taking advantage of their faith or their need for help—in order to make a quick buck.”
Rogovy was multiplying his “quick bucks.” After customers signed up for prayer, they were directed to a confusing page where they had to opt out of a monthly payment plan for “continued blessings,” the attorney general’s office stated. “The information was presented in a confusing manner and inadequately disclosed that the charges would reoccur until the consumer canceled.”
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