By COLlive reporter
A suspected scammer is accused of asking members of a number of Shuls for hundreds of dollars to fly home and bury his dead parents, police said.
Investigators said they discovered the scam after 35-year-old Alan Fahra, of Carrollton, Texas, went to the Chabad House in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday morning and asked for help.
“The fellow joined our morning minyan, intentionally coming after davening started,” Shliach Rabbi Levi Krinsky of Manchester, New Hampshire, told COLlive.com.
“I turned to him and asked him if he needed a pair of tefillin and he said he already did it earlier, not knowing that he would find us.”
After davening, the man identified himself as “Alan Fein,” Krinsky said, and told the congregants that his parents had died in a car crash in Israel, and he needed $400 for a plane ticket to get to the funeral.
A member of the synagogue said people were so moved they gave him enough money to cover the airline ticket, and one even left early to drive him downtown.
Later, one member of the Shul became suspicious of the story, and searched “Alan Fein” on the Internet. The name brought up stories from across the country of similar scams, and they called police.
Police tracked down Fahra and arrested him at an ice cream shop where he was eating an ice cream sundae.
“What he did was wrong,” said Rabbi Krinsky. “It’s like coming in and stealing the charity box.”
If this man has visited your shul/Chabad house, says Krinsky, even if it was a couple of years ago, please call or email him at rabbi@lubavitchNH.com which will help the authorities who are building the case against him.
Fahra is currently facing theft charges and was held on $20,000 bail.
what’s the difference he scammed people and that’s totally unexceptable
theres absolutely no excuse for what he did!
http://archive.showmenews.com/2008/apr/0427-su_D01_farha_0427.jpg
He essentially stole mamon hekdesh
Is he jewish?
was the story he said true
Farha is an Arabic name. There are many Greek Orthodox Arabs, including the great tzadekes Helen Thomas.
He’s insane.
Alan Fahra rhymes with Sarah, is scammer but not a Jew.
The date on #4’s article is almost 4 years ago. He’s been doing this for many years all over the country. Give him 25 years for fraud. Oh wait, they can’t do that; he isn’t a religious Jew.
from the article referenced by #4
“Alan Farha II was the second of three children born to Alan and Betty Jo Farha. He lived in a Greek Orthodox household, and his mother and uncle are still active in the foundation that supports the Jesuit school, records show.
He attended Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas along with his younger brother, Ryan, but did not graduate”
i had a long meeting where he tried convincing me about his sad story.
i asked him simple questions like where the bodies are now, which hospital, which funeral home is arranging the funeral. he couldnt answer some of the questions so i sent him flying….
is he Jewish?
Then there are thousands of people that should be arrested. Do we arrest panhandlers, sales people and every other tom, dick and Harry who have lied? I don’t condone the behavior, but I think this is a bit exaggerated.
Besides this is probably a very sick individual.
I never realized creeps like this existed in real life!
Alan Farha steals from churches too:
http://archive.showmenews.com/2008/apr/20080427feat002.asp
IS HE JEWISH?
That’s so sad that ppl act like this..