pay for prayer hoax
Houston's Lakewood Church warns public of Joel Osteen online impostor
The globally popular Lakewood Church is issuing a warning to social media users who may have received a fraudulent Facebook comment from an account spoofing Houston-based Joel Osteen Ministries.
The Facebook comment warns that the recipient's prayer request account has not been activated and will require a monthly donation for activation.
The imposter's comment explains that the recipient can pay a monthly donation of $24.99 for three prayer requests per month or $49.99 a month to become a "Platinum Prayer Request" member, giving the account holder access to over 10 prayer requests a month.
Lakewood Church posted a screenshot of the comment on their Facebook page and warned the public that it is fake. Joel Osteen Ministries said it never requests money for prayer, and that you can submit free prayer requests at joelosteen.com.
A representative from Lakewood Church sent ABC13 Eyewitness News the following statement:
Joel Osteen Ministries never requests money for prayer. The image being circulated is from an impostor account and did not come from Joel Osteen Ministries.
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