Peter Popoff exploits people’s greed, need and vulnerability for financial benefit according to Google results
I happen to agree with that view. So did the highly respected James Randi (who demonstrated Popoff’s wife feeding him ‘divine information’ via radio link in his live ‘ministries’) and so do most of the people writing about Peter Popoff online.
I came across Popoff last night, flipping channels after England’s depressing performance in their World Cup opener. Clare and I watched Popoff and his charming wife Liz promising ‘supernatural debt cancellation’ in return for nothing more than writing in to request their miracle water gift.
A gift which, of course, then turns into floods of direct mail with ever-increasing demands for money – ‘seed gifts’ – to help God to get started sorting out your debt problems. According to Popoff, you can’t expect God to supernaturally cancel your debt unless you stump up something yourself first. It’s the religious version of the Nigerian funds transfer fee.
Despite having declared himself bankrupt following Randi’s high-profile debunking on American TV (easily available on YouTube) Peter Popoff today pulls in millions of dollars a year through his latest direct mail operation – and pays himself and all the members of his family millions in salaries too. First time round the target was believers with health problems. Now, in the shadow of the credit crunch, it’s believers with debt problems.
For someone with a really bad online reputation, he’s doing far better than he should – and raises a question about how important online reputation is to a business. The answer, of course (and Popoff will know this all too well) lies in the likelihood of his intended victims – sorry, ‘market’ – using Google to critically evaluate the things they’re presented with.
Judging by the audience profile at his ministry events shown on TV last night, I’d say that this likelihood was low, to say the least, reminding us that online reputation is only a meaningful concept to those who are already critical and use the web to do some form of due diligence before making decisions.
That greedy, insecure, grubby little people exploit other greedy, vulnerable and grubby people is absolutely no surprise to me. It’s everywhere – scratch the surface of everything British these days and you’ll find this sleaze. What does surprise me is that Peter Popoff can be still pushing this scam on TV and there’s not a watchdog or body that can – or will – stop it.
MacIntyre and Dodd Marketing, Peter Popoff. Just two – but there are tens of thousands more and our culture gives them carte blanche to operate. Disgusting.
I just saw the infomercial tonight and can honestly say I was absolutely stunned. I have little use for James Randi; he is one who considers himself more respected than he actually is. He’s a mediocre magician who went the way of Houdini by trying to debunk the paranormal. However, he did something right with Popoff. Was it all for naught? In spite of this VERY high profile debunking, people are apparently STILL falling for it. This guy has been in trouble before. Why would one give him money for the financial equivalent of a faith healing?
I cannot even understand why someone would fall for this scam even if the scammer had a great reputation. Miracle water and a magic message directly from God through Popoff/whoever that will make all your debts disappear? REALLY? REALLY??
I know many religious people. I consider myself religious. None I have known are naive enough for this. Where are all these naive people coming from? I guess it’s the same people who fall for Nigerian scams, but… still… REALLY??
Hi Chris, thanks for your comment.
Amazing, innit? How someone can be totally discredited and yet continue to ‘trade’ on national airwaves. But it’s the same as those direct mail people I’ve blogged about here (MacIntyre and Dodd Marketing Ltd): everybody except them thinks they’re crooks and yet the law somehow permits them to carry right on ripping off naiive and vulnerable old people who dream of getting a bit of luck….
My wife continually asks me why I bother trying to save anyone from anything. She’s sort of right. After all, there’s a kind of balance in it all isn’t there? I mean, Popoff only does what he does because there are plenty of desperate, naiive, foolish (you name it) people out there. Surely – some might say – if you’re that stupid, you deserve to be ripped off, right?
Part of me agrees with that, yet another part of me thinks it just isn’t ok to sit by and say nothing if we want to call ourselves a civilised society.
People,
We know that the word of God was given freely in the Bible. Nowhere
does it say and ask for money.So to prophecy for money as scripture has been stated is wrong.
Have these orphanages been built, are these people really healed – the blind man, 2 say they gave $20,000 and now are millionaires.
Willthese people write thier names, phone numbers and e-mails so we can all call and verify these results.
i have had prophecies sent to me- they have confirmed what I thought God had spoken= confirmation is ministry, but the fact that I have no income and cannot give should not deter or cause a threat.
I had $50,000- BOUGHT A MINISTER A NEW 2ND car, asenior woman a car, paid rent for a homeless person, bought groceries for 4-5 people andd Have prophecied to dozens of people= no fee they came true within days, weeks, months and 1 3 years later. Now I don’t have physically money this moinute, but have to believe because my heart was right that either through work( ofr Diabled) or through
inheritance, windfall GOd will provide.
Iwant to have ministry as in public, but it seems though allI have ministered to are blessed, nothingmore comes of a thing? So maybe this is the kind of thing and he rationalized, hopefully his heart is right and those who say they have been blessed tell the truth. GOD IS THE JUDGE HOPEFULLY HE DIDN”T PURPOSE TO TAKE FROM individuals who have no money.
I pray he reads this and understands. You know ministries are the worst paid, have to go church to church and beg to fund thier mission. I only know 1 oln time minister who works 3-4 days a week as carpenter/ painter, does impeccable work, pays his own bills, helps some of his congregants, takes tithes to fix, pay bills and church taxes = honorable!!!!!!!
Barbara, thank you for your comment. I’m not really sure what your point is here, but thanks for stopping by and having your say.
Clearly this man is a fraud, I have written to Gospel TV who put out his rubbish to complain. I have given them links to the websites where James Randi debunked him, I have got an acknowledgement but even when I write back I get nothing.
He is worse than the Nigerian, and other, scammers on the internet since they are not put on the airwaves and those who broadcast his trash are equally guilty. Having watched several of the preachers on TV I find them all to be charlatans; I saw one where the viewers were urged to pay to attend some rally since it could well be the last before Jesus returns! This is the sort of trickery used by dodgy used car salesmen.
Gospel TV clearly don’t mind taking the devil’s dollar, do they.
Mind you – when I saw one of these channels asking for donations the other day it blew my mind (I think it was also Gospel TV). Here’s how it went:
“You give us $1,000. We’ll keep $500 as a donation and, with the other $500 buy you a piece of 24carat gold as an investment and send it back to you. Over time it will increase in value and you’ll get your donation back.”
Awesome business model.
The man seeking money for gold was from Gospel TV, I did ring the number 0808 120 1967, I asked the woman who answered was the channel a Pythonesque farce as I found some of their programmes hysterically funny and her only reply was to ask had I been born again.
On the subject of Popoff I rang his number 0800 334 5942 and asked the man who answered if he knew what Popoff did and he did not explaining he was only doing the job for money, I suggested if he was desperate for money prostitution would be more honest than working for a notorious conman scamming the poor.
Later I rang the main Gospel TV number, 01442 288544, and asked why they broadcast Popoff and the woman told me if he had repented it was acceptable and anyway I should get in touch with their headquarters in Iceland 00 354 580 0703. I rang, told the lady in Iceland of Popoff’s past and she asked me if I believed in forgiveness but when I pointed out he was still engaged in scamming vulnerable people, through her TV Channel, she became evasive.
Fantastic bit of work Kevin. Pity it’s such a depressing read on both the gold count and the Popoff count.
Everyone in the chain is sucking money from the end-idiot (the hopeless gullible people sending Popoff money or buying gold for god) – which is why nobody wants to stop it and everybody wants to keep it going.
They’re all as guilty as Popoff or the Austrian gold scavenger.
I already know you know this stuff is everywhere
Look forward to chatting to you about this when we catch up on the phone! 
Thanks Sam, today I rang the gold people, asked the switchboard lady had she heard of Jesus throwing the money changers out of the Temple and she said she was there to help me. So I asked if she or the others had read this part of the Bible, she repeated she was there to help me and offered to put me through to her supervisor. I knew what to expect so declined the offer.
Do me a favour Kevin – let me know the name of the Channel and the name of the promotion (if you can remember the pastor whose clever idea it was & or the show it was on) and I’ll fire a blog off into Google with those things in the title
It is on Gospel TV and the man is Icelandic referred to, by his adoring followers, as Pastor Erik, his name is Erik Erikson. The programme on which he makes his offer is “Broadcasting from Iceland” in which he is interviewed by a Welsh sycophant Robert Rees, who looks as if he has a toupee. I have seen others doing the same scam but Ericson and Ress seem to be the major culprits and this website will help more
http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue1292.html
NO HE DOESNT,ILL MAKE IT PLAIN.DO YOU KNOW THAT GOD SAYS IN REVELATION 11 IF ANYONE HURTS THESE TWO WITNESSS,PROPHETS TODAY,WILL DIE.PROPHET PETER POPOFF AND PROPHET DON STEWART ARE THOSE TWO.YOUR WARNING STOP NOW IF YOU FEAR GOD.IN JESUS CHRIST NAME AMEN.
Nina – I don’t fear god, but you clearly do. Good luck to you, you and Prophet Popoff deserve each other.