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*As many as 30 churches in southern California have fallen victim to an illegal computer leasing scheme designed to drain tens of thousands of dollars from their coffers.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown said the churches might have been defrauded by the same companies suspected of bilking other churches in as many as 10 other states.

The companies offered churches what were supposed to be free computer kiosks that could serve as electronic message boards to generate advertising revenue for the churches, Brown said.

“Instead, churches were left with leases as high as $45,000 per year for what amounted to little more than desktop computers and printers housed in podium-sized wooden boxes,” the attorney general’s office told the Associated Press.

When church leaders refused to pay the fraudulent fees, authorities said leasing companies filed lawsuits against the churches to collect payments, interest and late fees.

Three men and two women who owned the companies that offered the kiosks are under investigation for allegedly bilking churches out of more than $600,000. Brown’s office said it had served subpoenas at Urban Interfaith Network and Television Broadcasting Online, three leasing companies including Irvine-based Balboa Capital Corp.; United Leasing Associates of America Ltd. of Brookfield, Wis.; and San Francisco-based Banc of America Leasing and Capital LLC. Banc of America Leasing is a subsidiary of Bank of America.

Banc of America spokesman Will Wilson said the firm was cooperating with the probe and it had been unaware of any allegations of wrongdoing at the time it did business with companies involved in the alleged scam.

(Via EURweb.com)

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