We’ll get back to serious stuff soon, I promise, but as we ease ourselves into the new working year I thought you might enjoy this irresistible offer I received over the festive break, from the Pope. Yes, the man himself: Pope Francis PP. I was uncertain about the PP and – being both a non-Catholic and a CDD-addict – I have checked. And it is one of the fraudster’s many mistakes. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Francis is a more free-wheeling pope and eschews the more formal trappings of his office, including the PP stuff: in the 2013 edition of the Vatican’s annual directory, the Annuario Pontificio, “the signature under Francis’s official portrait is given in Italian and not Latin: while [retired pope] Benedict previously signed his name in Latin as ‘Benedictus’ (and not the Italian ‘Benedetto’), Francis has signed his in the Italian ‘Francesco’ (and not the Latin ‘Franciscus’). Additionally, Benedict’s signature appears with the initials PP following his name, standing for ‘pope’, while Francis’s does not.” As they say in religious circles, busted.
But, to be honest, it wasn’t just the PP that gave it away. See if you can spot any other hints that this missive is not actually from His Holiness:
Dear Dear susan@thinkingaboutcrime.com , in the lord,
I (Catholic pope francis) humble myself before God and you all to wish you happy season new year in 2018 .
It is my pleasure to plead with you all in also remembering the poor and homeless children to donating sum of USD,EUR ETC of your various country for the motherless children and also homeless and poor childrent .
If you are willing to help please kindly contact my below email of my department of charity and donation world wide.
EMAIL ID: world.catholic-charity@priest.com
WHATSAPP:+14197185097
May the peace of our Lord be with you, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirity.. Amen
Thanks and regards
His Holiness, Pope Francis PP.
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano
Tricky, isn’t it – so convincing and tempting. Part of me would like to believe that I could get a hotline to heaven via Whatsapp, but I fear that it is not so. Despite this disappointment, I wish you a happy and healthy 2019, with plenty of AML spirity.
I hate money laundering 
Happy New Year!
Hopefully no visits to the bottom to the garden during the “festive break”.
it is tricky but as far as I’m aware Pope Benedict’s command of English, particularly the written word, is good enough for him not to have made some of the mistakes in this ‘begging’ letter.
Maybe the “free-wheeling” approach has something to do with him being Brazilian.
No, I managed to stay away – not least because I had a stinker of a cold. Poor me! And you’re right about the Pope’s freewheeling-ness – although I think he’s Argentinian… And happy new year to you too – onward into 2019.
Yet for all its naivety it will reap rewards from some of our older and vulnerable folk who only see the good in people. I once had an old lady in the office with a bag full of professional begging letters. I looked at a few, told her to chuck them all in a bin and she stormed out to find advice she more approved of 😦
The “suckers list” is one of the most shameful inventions, where fraudsters share the names of those who are vulnerable/naive/easy to dupe. Even legitimate charities are guilty of similar tactics: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/20/poppy-seller-who-killed-herself-got-up-to-3000-charity-mailings-a-year