Scammers Target Followers Of Texas Scamvangelical

The Houston Chronicle reports:

If you see “Joel Osteen” asking for money in exchange for prayers on Facebook, it’s not the real Joel Osteen. Lakewood Church has been warning people about a Facebook account posing as “Joel Osteen Ministries,” which has been asking people for donations up to $50 to activate prayer request accounts.

The message has been circulating on both Facebook and Twitter, church officials told Chron.com. “Unfortunately, your Joel Osteen prayer request account has not been activated,” the message said.

“In order to activate your account, you will need to add a monthly donation of $24.99, which will give you access to 3 prayer requests per month…” The message goes on to offer “platinum prayer request” account to anyone who pays $49.99 per month.

If you see this, it is FAKE.

Joel Osteen Ministries never requests money for prayer. You can post your prayer requests here as well as pray for others: https://t.co/lmqV6cQMoK pic.twitter.com/y7YWAiT6uS

— Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) May 15, 2019

Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church warns of imposter offering prayers for cash https://t.co/Jr1SOdjsFO pic.twitter.com/fZJVYCpvyT

— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) May 16, 2019