Another Scientology ‘Chase Wave’ eyewitness drops by, and brings a check

Karen#1

Well-known member
EXCERPT
We are still hearing from Scientologists (current and former) about an effort by the church, in the years between about 2015 and 2019, to saddle members with huge debts by deceptively opening new credit card accounts for them, and from Chase Bank in particular.
This “Chase Wave” was so regularized, a step-by-step procedure was written up and sent to church salespeople (known as “registrars” in Scientology) to perpetuate the scam.
We have had former Scientologists like Mark Fladd and George McAlpine describe their first-hand experiences with the Chase Wave, and we’ve also heard from sources still inside the church about it, including today’s participant, a longtime reader who is “under the radar” and is still in good standing.
And we are especially grateful that today’s source brought us a document along with their account of not only being victimized in the Chase Wave, but also foiling it.


As you can see, the attached check is from [year, redacted] — the height of the Chase Wave. And a rare sight: a check FROM Scientology.
I had been out of contact for a few years when LA Org contacted me with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Suddenly I had five or six new credit cards totaling about $60,000.
 

Karen#1

Well-known member
EXCERPT
We are still hearing from Scientologists (current and former) about an effort by the church, in the years between about 2015 and 2019, to saddle members with huge debts by deceptively opening new credit card accounts for them, and from Chase Bank in particular.
This “Chase Wave” was so regularized, a step-by-step procedure was written up and sent to church salespeople (known as “registrars” in Scientology) to perpetuate the scam.
We have had former Scientologists like Mark Fladd and George McAlpine describe their first-hand experiences with the Chase Wave, and we’ve also heard from sources still inside the church about it, including today’s participant, a longtime reader who is “under the radar” and is still in good standing.
And we are especially grateful that today’s source brought us a document along with their account of not only being victimized in the Chase Wave, but also foiling it.

The 50 year crime wave of the cult of Scientology being exposed via Chase wave.
 

onceuponatime

Well-known member
One of many checks that went out. Scientology giving a refund and not declaring the person or doing anything else. Crazy times.
 

Reyne Mayer

Pansexual Revolutionary
One of many checks that went out. Scientology giving a refund and not declaring the person or doing anything else. Crazy times.
i think this case may be a bit of an exception because scientology got themselves in trouble with this as a concerted effort, and is probably trying to clean up the mess before it becomes a 'flap' with the credit card companies and maybe even the authorities. it occurs to me that it might even be a rare case in which management has taken responsibility themselves, rather than using 'responsibility' as a way just to force those under them to submit, comply and sacrifice.

still, i think this points to the co$ having resorted to increasingly desperate things in order to keep stats and cash flow up even before the pandemic, and i suspect we'll find that more and more they are bending policy to the breaking point in order to try to keep up the illusion of 'expansion' or even just keep the doors of the orgs open.
 

onceuponatime

Well-known member
i think this case may be a bit of an exception because scientology got themselves in trouble with this as a concerted effort, and is probably trying to clean up the mess before it becomes a 'flap' with the credit card companies and maybe even the authorities. it occurs to me that it might even be a rare case in which management has taken responsibility themselves, rather than using 'responsibility' as a way just to force those under them to submit, comply and sacrifice.

still, i think this points to the co$ having resorted to increasingly desperate things in order to keep stats and cash flow up even before the pandemic, and i suspect we'll find that more and more they are bending policy to the breaking point in order to try to keep up the illusion of 'expansion' or even just keep the doors of the orgs open.
Yes, this is true. This wasn't Scientology doing the right thing, they didn't have any other option. The whole financial situation flapped massively with Chase so they had to handle it.

It shows what they've had to resort to and how desperate they're getting.
 

Karakorum

Ron is the source that will lead you to grief
It shows they are entirely criminal....
Now we just need more money than they have to top the lawyers they pay.

US justice system a game that is not just pay to win. It is pay to play.
 

Reyne Mayer

Pansexual Revolutionary
Yes, this is true. This wasn't Scientology doing the right thing, they didn't have any other option. The whole financial situation flapped massively with Chase so they had to handle it.

It shows what they've had to resort to and how desperate they're getting.
can i ask, do you have insider information on that, or are you just reading the same published accounts I am? i'm looking for a bit more confirmation that people were just paid off and allowed to remain in good standing....
 

onceuponatime

Well-known member
can i ask, do you have insider information on that, or are you just reading the same published accounts I am? i'm looking for a bit more confirmation that people were just paid off and allowed to remain in good standing....
That people were paid off and remained in good standing? I don't know that I have insider information, but I can confirm:

A. Regs were gaming CCs to get big donos, chase was the preferred method (though I also heard of a lot of NFCU being done). Chase was preferred because some of their cards have very generous 0% interest periods and you can combine all your available chase credit onto one card. I.e. you get approved for 5 chase cards, each with a 10K limit, only one of these has 0% interest. You can call chase and roll these limits onto one card. So instead of 5 cards with a 10K limit, all with different interest rates, you get one card with a 50K limit that has 0% interest.

B. This eventually flapped with Chase (obviously). People started having trouble making payments and when Chase looked into it they saw what was going on.

C. Because of this Chase shut down all payments to Scientology, if you wanted to use your Chase card at a Scientology organization it wouldn't go through. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more going on behind the scenes, threats of investigation and legal action. This I don't have data on and is just speculation, but I think it's likely. This was all a massive flap.

D. After this virtually all regs got nuked. This included very well known regs who were on post forever, no one was immune. They all got comm eved and are no longer on finance lines. This was especially true in the SO. Class V regs might've survived better, not really an RPF to send them to and many orgs don't have the personnel to replace regs.

E. Though regs appear to have taken most/all of the blame it was definitely approved of by up-lines. I don't know how high it went exactly and who knew what, but for sure the people in the finance network knew what was going on. I'm not as sure what consequences they suffered (if any). So as a reg you were basically fucked. If you didn't do this shady finance stuff then your stats sucked and you were an evil SP, if you did this stuff then when it eventually blew up you were still an evil SP (even though your seniors and everyone else knew what was going on and approved of it).

F. Part of the clean-up involved sending missions all over the place, specifically to pay off a bunch of this bad debt. This was to handle the flap with chase (and others I'm sure). Those who had their debt paid off did not suffer any real consequences and have remained in good standing.

As I've said, I'm not and never was a Scientologist, I just hear things. I'm not going to claim insider information, people can believe what I post or not, it's not a concern to me.
 

Karakorum

Ron is the source that will lead you to grief
So as a reg you were basically fucked. If you didn't do this shady finance stuff then your stats sucked and you were an evil SP, if you did this stuff then when it eventually blew up you were still an evil SP (even though your seniors and everyone else knew what was going on and approved of it).
Cult doublebind 101.
 
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