Christian Prayer Center must Refund $7 Million to Consumers in Pay-to-Pray Scam
- Apr 13, 2016
- 1 min read
The Christian Prayer Center (CPC) is a Seattle based website created by Benjamin Rogovy with over 1.3 million Facebook fans. The website claimed to be run by a fictitious Pastor John Carlson. They charged people between $9 and $35 for prayer and were able to service over 125,000 people. The website would send weekly inspirational emails to consumers under the pastor's name, and even created a fake LinkedIn profile that described the Pastor's experience as Senior Pastor. According to the Washington State attorney general’s office, visitors to the site saw testimonials from religious leaders and laypeople who claimed that God gave them healthy babies, winning lottery tickets, money for mortgage payments, clean HIV tests and cancer scans after they paid for prayer. The Christian Prayer Center website "deliberately" confused some consumers into signing up for recurring monthly payments for continued blessings. The website also offered the services of Pastors serving as “consultants” who did not exist to help with any religious ceremonies. However, the website people were directed to was actually a for-profit corporation with multiple employees and independent contractors. Rogovy also ran another for profit online scam called the Christian National Church ran by another fake Pastor Parker Robinson who offered an ordination certificate for $139 to those who believe in one true God, accept Jesus as their Savior, and have asked forgiveness for their sins. Rogovy ran these scams among others from 2011-2015 and was recently charged and ordered to pay every dollar back.
Full Stories Here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/owner-pay-pray-website-ordered-return-78m-consumers/story?id=37728398
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