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Vicar robbed of life savings

“I’m a Church of England vicar and last year I decided to use the internet to hook up with friends and other clergy. I made a few new contacts and one was another vicar working overseas who told me he was trying to set up a soup kitchen for refugees in North Africa. I thought this was a really worthy cause, so I asked him if there was anything I could do to help.  

The main thing he needed was financial support, so after a few weeks I decided to transfer all of my savings. Being a vicar, I do tend to have a lot of faith in people. What I didn’t realise, however, was that my ‘friend’ was in fact a criminal based in Nigeria, and that his ‘good cause’ was a complete scam. So I’d tried to help someone out with the best will in the world, and lost my life savings as a result.”  

Neil, 47, London 

For more information on how to protect yourself against Charity Donation Fraud, click here.