Churches Fall Prey to Con Artists
Re “Preying Through the Pulpit,” Column One, Jan 13: With all the Ponzi-related stories in the news, it’s amazing to me that intelligent adults can still get scammed into parting with their money by snake-oil salesmen promising impossible rates of return.
Maybe it’s time for our school administrators to consider incorporating life lessons into the curriculum so students can learn how to avoid being conned this way. It takes 10 minutes to explain how a Ponzi scheme works, but apparently nobody is getting the message. LAUSD, are you listening?
Bonnie Sloane
Los Angeles
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In your Column One, my guess is that more was revealed about Bishop Edwin J. Derensbourg and his church than he would have liked. I would think that the title “bishop” would mean having some degree of maturity and insightfulness. If the leaders of these congregations are falling for these scams, what more can you expect from the people?
However, I am not totally convinced that ignorance is the issue. I think that it is more feigned naivete, cloaked in greed.
Bill Stamps
Cerritos
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