Adoption scam uses Mendham nun's name

Adoption scam uses Mendham nun's name

Police in Cameroon have launched an investigation into an Internet adoption scam that has left a Mendham nun worried about the reputation of a worthy charity -- and a Rhode Island couple out$7,000. Sister Mary Lynne, of the Community of St. John Baptist, an Episcopal convent in Mendham, found that her name and photograph were used without her knowledge in a series of e-mails promoting the adoption of children from an orphanage in Cameroon.

[Morris County - États-Unis] - 24-03-2008 (MIochael Daigne)

The orphanage is real, and Sister Mary Lynne has been photographed working there. But the orphanage doesn't offer children for adoption.
The nun now is worried about the reputation of the orphanage, whose photos also were used without its knowledge or permission. Several churches in the Morris County area raise funds for the facility.

Michael and Grace Robinson of Warwick, R.I., received the e-mails and, hoping to adopt a child, paid $7,000 in what turned out to be a swindle.
"We wanted to adopt," Grace Robinson said in a recent interview. "We have two children, ages 2 and 5, and wanted to help an orphan, but not spend $28,000 to $30,000. We were looking for a different way, and we used the Internet."
During a blitz of e-mails that appeared authentic, the couple sent numerous small payments over six or seven weeks in the form of money orders, which means that whoever cashed them can't be traced.

Around the time the Robinsons notified authorities about the scam earlier this month, the scammers decided to use the identifies of some new folks for their phony testimonials: Michael and Grace Robinson. Those e-mails were received by a Texas family, who contacted the Rhode Island couple. They are easy to find because Michael Robinson is the youth pastor at the Cranston Christian Fellowship -- much like the Robinsons had contacted Sister Mary Lynne in late February.

"We were horrified," Grace Robinson said. "Imagine having to defend yourself over something that you did not do."
They all find themselves mentioned in an endless web of e-mails sent by someone pretending to be them, or lawyers and nannies. The scam swirls through the Internet on Web sites and in Internet advertisements, and is the subject of strong warnings on the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon.

"These scams target foreigners worldwide, posing risks of both financial loss and personal danger to their victims. Scams are often initiated by credit card use, through telephone calls, from Internet cafes in Cameroon and from unsolicited faxes, letters and e-mails," the warning says.
It continues, "Recently many Americans have become victims of Cameroonian con-men/women offering to place their children for adoption through the Internet. Americans should be very cautious about sending money or traveling to Cameroon to adopt a child from an orphanage they have heard about through e-mails."

The Robinsons were led to believe they were sharing information with Sister Mary Lynne, identified as a director of the Good Shepherd Home in Bamenda, Cameroon.
Instead, Sister Mary Lynne explained, the Robinsons were sharing personal information with someone using her name and photographs without her authorization, and misrepresenting the nature of the mission of Good Shepherd Home.

"Good Shepherd does not offer adoptions," she said in a recent interview.
The home in Bamenda takes orphans off the streets and gives them a place to live, attend classes or learn a trade, she said.
Sister Mary Lynne said the photos used in the scheme show her at the orphanage, which she visits annually.

After the nuns of St. John Baptist heard about the scam from the Robinsons, convent officials determined that the photos were copied from a computer used at the Good Shepherd Home, and recognized a telephone number in one of the many e-mails.
They sent a report to police in Cameroon, who told them recently that a potential suspect was identified -- someone who had performed some computer repairs for the orphanage -- but was believed to have left Bamenda.

Sister Mary Lynne said there is a great need for the services offered by Good Shepherd Home, which serves local children whose parents have died in the AIDS epidemic sweeping Cameroon. The Canadian watchdog group International Children Awareness reported that in sub-Saharan Africa more than 12 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, including more than 200,000 children in Cameroon.

Sister Mary Lynne was one of a group of Morris County church members who traveled to the home last year to help with the construction of a water system. The Good Shepherd Home has been assisted financially by churches in Morristown, Summit, Livingston and Essex Fells, among others.

Robinson said she and her husband started what they thought was an adoption process in mid-January. The first letter she received, Robinson said, began, "My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ. May the Good Lord fill your hearts with joy this New Year 2008."
It is signed by "Sr. Mary Lynne Good Shepherd Home Orphanage."
The e-mailed letter described tight quarters at the orphanage and said, "We can't really support the population again ... I was wondering if you can let me know whether you will be interested in adopting a baby."

That same letter or one with similar wording appeared on online classified Web pages aimed at audiences in England, Spanish-speaking countries and Eastern Europe, among others. It has been identified by authorities as the come-on letter in a scheme.
Believing the offer was real, Robinson said, she and her husband checked the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon and found a list of documents that were needed for an adoption and the name of an attorney.

"We followed that list and sent every document," she said.
Looking back, Robinson said, it was clear that the job of the first woman she spoke with was to sell them on the notion of a foreign adoption, and then to hand them off to a person who would close the deal.

They were directed to what they thought was the Good Shepherd Home and were sent photos.
"We investigated as well as we could and it seemed authentic," she said. "How do you avoid a scam? We did everything we could and had no reason not to believe. We are faithful, decent people."

The family received a message on Feb. 8 from the person claiming to be Sister Mary Lynne, saying that a judge in Cameroon had approved the adoption.
"We got the adoption and were laughing and filled with joy," Robinson recalled.
Then, she said, they had trouble getting through to their contacts, including the attorney, to find out when their baby would arrive.

Finally someone gave them flight information. On Feb. 24 they drove to Logan Airport in Boston to meet a social worker who was supposed to have their new child, Trinity Amorette Robinson, whose name appears on an official-looking certificate of adoption they received. In photographs she appears as a chubby-cheeked, smiling white child.
Robinson said they sat in the Air France terminal for five hours. Her husband checked often to see whether a woman and a baby had deplaned. None did.
Then they went home.

"We've been gypped. It's brutal and cruel," Robinson said.
After the swindle was reported, the couple received an e-mail from someone who identified himself as being in charge of an investigation into the scam in Cameroon, asking for all the documents and photos they had received. But the Robinsons now are more cautious. At first they did not answer because of some questionable wording in the message.
"We think it's the scammers," Grace Robinson said.

She again contacted the nuns at St. John Baptist, who had their friends at the orphanage check with authorities there. They learned that the e-mail was not from Cameroonian police. Police suggested that the Robinsons keep up the correspondence, though, to get clues to the scammers' identities.
That's what the Robinsons are doing. They say they're also compiling a report to send to the FBI.

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