| One of the mothers on my Missionary Mom's email group sent me this
message. This is just a warning for any of you who have a returned
missionary. Read below...
Betty Pearson, Listowner, LDS Missionary Moms
Dear Moms,
One of the reasons we have this list is so that we can share advice and
information with each other. Most of the time the advice is positive and
the experiences are great! Every once in a while, though, we share things
that are a little more difficult to handle. This is one of those times.
In The White Book, missionaries are advised not to give or loan money to
members or the people they work with. That same advice needs to be given
to RMs and the families of missionaries. My daughter and her husband, who
served in Chile, decided to help one of his former companions come to the
States. He ("Spencer") is an outstanding young man and they wanted to help
him fulfill his dream of coming to America and getting an education. They
sent him $1500 to get the ticket, passport and Visa.
One of the members from Chile called our son-in-law to talk and he told
her about "Spencer." She volunteered to help "Spencer" get his visa. She
said she knew all of the ropes. They were really glad to have her help.
She went and got the $1500 from Spencer and told him she would take care
of everything. Maria told my daughter and her husband there were some
additional fees they needed to pay which would require another $1,000.
It took almost everything they had, but they came up with it.
Then she told them that the government would not allow "Spencer" to leave
Chile unless he owned a piece of property. Maria volunteered to sign her
home over to "Spencer" so that he could meet that requirement. A few weeks
later she showed up in Salt Lake. She stayed at the Marriott, and spent
a LOT of money. A few days later, she came to our kids panicked. Her
property had been confiscated by the Chilean government! It seems that
there is a law in Chile which states that if a person is in debt, his
children's property could be confiscated to pay the debt.
Her home was gone because "Spencer's" father was in debt. A call to Chile to
"Spencer" uncovered the fact that he knew nothing about any of this, that
he'd never received any papers or even a penny of the money back from her,
and his father was NOT in debt.
It was obivous--there was a corrupt person there in Chile and Maria had to
fly home immediately to straighten things out. She asked my children for
the money to fly home and told them she would do a bank transfer as soon
as she arrived. She just needed their bank information. They spent $1000
to send her home and gave her their bank account number and his Social
Security number. you've guessed by now, it wasn't a corrupt government
worker who was the problem. It was her.
You can not imagine what this did to our son-in-law. This was a woman he
trusted completely. He taught her the discussions and baptized her. She
was his convert! She was active in the church. She went to the temple with
them. You need to understand that my children are not naive people. They
had no reason NOT to trust her--she played her part perfectly. She was the
consummate con artist.
Our son-in-law started contacting other RMs she had visited while she was
here and discovered that she had scammed another one of them for $4,000.
Two days ago they learned through a third party that Maria is returning to
the states. She called another RM and asked if she could stay with him. He
didn't let on that he knew what she had done...
If you are contacted by someone, or if your returned missionaries are
approached by members of the church where they served asking for money,
PLEASE refer them to their local Bishop or Stake President. Some members
of the church will take advantage of others. Most people are honest and
upright, but not all. If you ever get a letter asking for money, or if
your returned missionaries get letters or phone calls requesting money,
let your Bishops know about this.
I don't want to start a panic, because most members are good and honest,
but you just don't know. Please be careful and follow the advise of the
brethren. Don't let yourselves be conned. It hurts too much. It destroys
your faith in yourself and tarnishes the memories you have of your mission.
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