skip to Main Content
Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post

Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 11 March 2024

Faith-Based Security Headlines

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Church administrator convicted, faces 20 years in prison for embezzlement scheme

The Christian Post reports:

A former administrator and wife of a former police chief has been convicted of stealing over $360,000 from a northern California church through a multi-year embezzlement scheme impacting the church’s youth ministry and food pantry.

According to prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, Easton used multiple credit cards affiliated with St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Yuba City to engage in a five-year embezzlement scheme from 2013 to 2018.

Easton is also accused of transferring money directly from the church’s bank accounts to her own personal account, paying the balance of her personal credit card and paying her cell phone provider for her personal bills and new phones.

Additionally, the former church employee stole money from the church by writing checks to others to cover their personal expenses and by writing checks to herself, forging the signatures of the church’s treasurer and head volunteer of the church’s food pantry.

Analyst Comments:

Smart Church Management published 10 Practices That Safeguard Your Church Against Embezzlement. The 2019 article provides guidance that is still relevant to safeguarding Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) from embezzlement.

Smart Church Management cites Church Mutual to provide the following fraud statistics:

  • Most frauds last 18 months before being caught
  • The average tenure of the perpetrator is over eight years
  • 87% have never been charged with fraud or theft before
  • More frauds are caught by a tip (40%) than any other means

Smart Church Management details the following practices to safeguard FBOs against embezzlement:

  1. Policy and Procedures
  2. Training
  3. Audits
  4. Rotation
  5. Safes
  6. Two-Person Rule
  7. Background/Credit Checks
  8. Watch for Warning Signs
  9. Supervision/Management
  10. Act on Suspicion

More Faith-Based Stories

No injuries after bullets hit Houston mosque during Ramadan event, HPD says no hate crime proof

Altercation outside Fort Worth church leads to shooting, suspect at large

Multiple fire departments converge to fight Town Bluff church fire

CA: Arson fire burns cross in front of Santa Cruz church, arsonist caught on camera

IL: 2 Bloomington churches and westside businesses damaged by vandalism

WA: Two couples charged with hate crime for vandalizing Spokane Valley church

Jewish Bakery in California Defaced with Antisemitic Vandalism

CA: Authorities seeking thief who stole $30,000 from Rialto church

Jordanian man arrested in Florida for antisemitic threats against Orthodox Jews

NYC coffee shop target of antisemitic incidents, owner says

North Carolina court documents detail threat deputies say man made to Alamance County church

California Woman Pleads Guilty to Leaving Threatening Anti-Semitic Message

CA: Walnut Creek City Council meeting again disrupted by antisemitic hate speech

California Virtual City Council Meeting Interrupted by Antisemitic Callers

White supremacists, seizing on Israel-Hamas war, have accelerated their antisemitism since Oct. 7

NYPD reports 17 antisemitic crimes in February, as Oct. 7 surge appears to taper off

IL: Jewish Performer Forced to Cancel Concert for Third Time over Antisemitic Threats

Oscars ad dramatizes real-life bomb threat to US synagogue during a bar mitzvah

NC: Protesters want voucher funding stripped from church school over pastor’s comments on rape

NM: Ark Childcare Development Center Installs Security System

Children of God sex cult survivor details horrifying abuse she experienced as young as 5

The Greek Orthodox minority in Turkey faces the threat of disappearance

North Caicos church flattened by fire on day of worship – pastor suspects arson

Pope provokes outrage by saying Ukraine should ‘raise white flag’ and end war with Russia

Exploring allegations against a minister of a B.C. church with no name

Gantz ahead of Ramadan: We will not allow Hamas to desecrate the houses of worship

Statement from President Joseph R. Biden on the Occasion of Ramadan

Select All-Hazards Stories

USCP Officers Stop Man with Hammer during Capitol Screening

US military evacuates staff, adds security at embassy in Haiti

Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula announces death of leader, SITE Group says

Peru arrests 2, including Quds Force operative, for alleged plot to attack Israeli and What we know about alleged Iran plot to attack Israeli citizen in Peru

MI5 lowers Northern Ireland’s terror threat level

Driver arrested after crashing car into Buckingham Palace gates

US prepares UN Security Council resolution on nuclear weapons in space

NYPD on Hunt for Vandal Who Attempted to Burn Israeli Flag

Netanyahu ready to defy Biden’s ‘red line’ on impending Rafah invasion

Pro-Palestine Protests in the U.S. Since October 7, 2023

Pro-Israel Protests in the U.S. Since October 7, 2023

Critical Fire Weather Conditions in the Central U.S; Another Storm System Impacting the Northwest National Weather Service

Brazil’s staggering dengue fever crisis is a warning to the world and CDC: Dengue

Chicago reports 2 measles cases

INTERPOL Financial Fraud assessment: A global threat boosted by technology

Coinbase, DSW, and Apple PayPal Invoice, and MORE: Top Scams of the Week

Scam Alert: Tollspayny and Tollsinfosny Scam Texts

Hackers exploit WordPress plugin flaw to infect 3,300 sites with malware

Proliferating ‘news’ sites spew AI-generated fake stories

Health care was biggest victim of U.S. ransomware attacks last year

Slack’s new CEO looks to bring stability after a turbulent period

Apple Released Security Updates for Multiple Products

Learning Lessons from The Cyber-Attack: British Library cyber incident review, March 2024

UK NCSC: Check your email security, and protect your customers; Free online tool from the NCSC prevents cyber criminals using your email to conduct cyber attacks

Cybersecurity YouTubers found a huge flaw with a convenient feature in Tesla cars

Ransomware tracker: The latest figures [March 2024]

Florida Middle Schoolers Arrested for Allegedly Creating Deepfake Nudes of Classmates

10 Smart Building Strategies

More Security-focused Content

Read more about the 2023 Threat Data and what the data tells us about the threat landscape.
Read the October 2023 Threat Level Statement Update
Access all-hazards resources from public and private sector partners, curated by the FB-ISAO team.

The FB-ISAO’s sponsor Gate 15 publishes a free daily newsletter called the SUN. Curated from their open source intelligence collection process, the SUN informs leaders and analysts with the critical news of the day and provides a holistic look at the current global, all-hazards threat environment. Ahead of the daily news cycle, the SUN allows current situational awareness into the topics that will impact your organization. To sign-up for The SUN, please sign up below.

Back To Top
Show Buttons
Hide Buttons