CONCORD -- A charity organized to prevent scams became the target of one. Cooperative Christian Ministry receives donations from local churches and determines who really needs help and who doesn't.

But two women were just arrested for trying to raise money in the name of Christian Ministries.

“We see people who come in who need food assistance, who need assistance with utilities,” said Central United Methodist Church Pastor Andy Langford.

Many people make their way to churches when they've fallen on hard times.

“We want to serve the people in our community, but we want to make sure the dollars that we use are used most efficiently,” said the Rev. Langford.

So, like many churches, Central United Methodist gives money to the Cooperative Christian Ministry to make sure the right people get help.

“The churches had the problem of not knowing how to separate someone with valid needs from someone that might be just taking advantage of,” explained executive director Ed Hosack.

Unfortunately, Christian Ministries became the target of the scam. Police arrested Annie Delores Little and Spring Lanise Harden for soliciting money from local churches and saying they were with Christian Ministries.

The director of Christian Ministries said the church network stopped the scam.

“Our process in validating that particular crisis began to point out some inconsistencies that we became suspicious about,” said Hosack.

There are about 400 churches in Cabarrus County and about 25 percent of those are working with Cooperative Christian Ministries. The director here says it not only helps the churches but it also helps the clients.

“There are a tremendous number of resources in our community for families who are otherwise stable but experienced this crisis and are not used to asking for help,” added Hosack.

Concord investigators say several other police departments are looking into crimes that may involve the two women arrested. In addition to Concord and Kannapolis, similar church scams were reported in Huntersville, Mooresville, Charlotte and Cornelius.