this number is being used by Scott Koren in Orlando Fl...You can find him on facebook under Scott L Koren.. He was working at the Orlando Newspaper .He is an extreme crack addict who uses church funds to keep his habit going. You can also find him under Mugshots .com

my father is a pastor in wv. "john" keeps calling the house asking for the pastor (not by name) and refuses to leave a message, instead insisting we give out dads cell number. he was very rude after mom asked him to leave a message. thank you all for posting to this, otherwise we may have eventually been caught up in the moment.

Recently I got a message: "call me back immediately about the disk"

Unfortunately, John is still at work calling pastors.  He is very sincere and convincing and, unfortunately, he also has access to our cell phone numbers.  I hope all of you pastors make it a policy to double check these calls before you give away your money or sensitive information.

Pastor Bill - Sorry to say this is the "Small Church Scam". Call comes in, say they are a member of your Church, need help urgently. It is, of course, a scam. As you pointed out, there is no need for someone half a country away to call you. They could go to that cities local church, who would call you, or they would help. Again, sorry to say this is not a new scam.

I'm a pastor also. Received a call from this number from JOHN WEST with same story about mother's death and needing busfare to get home.  When I suggested local help and told him we would not wire money or buy tickets, he became beligerant.  I hung up on him, but followed up by checking the number.  Thanks for all who posted.

We, too, received a call from John Williamson claiming his mom had been killed.  He called twice. Same story: bus station, Walmart...When he said that he had met us at church, I asked which church.  He mentioned the name.  When I told him that church had disbanded, we got "cut off.". He hasn't called back.

I got the same call. Called him back and he is very convincing, asks for prayer. This time he was in Florida and car broke down needing to get back home. Same bus ticket story. I almost fell for it, was going to check visitor records at church first but googled the number and found your post. Thanks for doing that...saved us time and money that could be used for someone truly in need. Btw-he called back and told me of a walmart near me that would stay open til I got there. I had already read your post and told him he had been caught in the act. He of course had no idea what I was talking about!!!!!!!!!

Got a call from this number from a man calling himself John, saying he needed me to call him back concerning a death (I am a pastor). I didn't call him back but he called another member of our church telling him that he had visited our church in TN. He had gone to FL because his mom had been killed in a car wreck. He was on his way home when his car broke down. He was at a bus station with his two girls and wanted someone to wire him$125 in Florida so he and his kids to get home. We didn't. We don't send people money.

I have gotten this same story a couple of other times over the years. It is a scam.

Left message "call me back immediately about the disk"

Don't know how he got my number. Did not call back
I don't know any John with a disk.

Scam/crank call