A worldwide scam on the World Wide Web
- Oct 9, 2007 - 1
Beloved in christ, Calvary Greetings in the Name of our lord Jesus Christ, I have been briefed to contact you because of passion for humanity and sympathy for people with just causes.I am a new Christian convert,suffering from long time cancer.
From all indications my condition is really deteriorating and it is quite obvious that I won’t live more than six months It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts.I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anything but my business.Though I am very rich, But now I regret all this as I now knowthat there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.
I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul so, I have decided to give alms to charity organizations and those in Need, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth So far, Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore. The last of my money which only my Attorney knows of is the huge cash deposit of Five Million United States Dollars ($5 000, 000.00) that I have with an Asset Management / Vaulting Company Abroad. I will want you to help me collect this deposit. I am willing! to donate this 5 million U.S dollars to you for the less privilege and for practical Christian service and concern.
And upon my instruction, my attorney, who presently is in Accra Ghana distributingrelief materials to victims and an application for the Transfer of the money in your name. Lastly, I honestly pray that this money when it get to your hand will be used for the said purpose,So if you know that you will use this fund honestly for things that will glorify God’s name and purpose of God’s work, then do urgently contact me back and the details will be given toyou on how you will be able to receive the fund.
Anyone with a computer and an e-mail address has likely received at least one such plaintive message lately – if not a whole slew of them. At The Baptist Record, the count for just this year is several hundred such messages.
The names and reply addresses may be different, but the point is always the same: The writer is a rich but dying new Christian, always overseas, seeking to give away his fortune to someone who will use it properly to ensure his entrance into heaven. All that need be done is to contact the writer for instructions on how to transfer the money.
If the recipient does reply, he/she is usually told to withdraw a substantial sum of money from their own bank account and send it to the writer, so that the writer’s money can be freed up. Then, according to the writer, all of the recipient’s money plus the newfound fortune will be sent back to the recipient.
It all sounds too good to be true, and it is. These are Internet scams of the highest order.
“The scheme relies on convincing a willing victim, who has demonstrated a ‘propensity for larceny’ by responding to the invitation, to send money to the author of the letter in Nigeria in several installments of increasing amounts for a variety of reasons,” reports the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), referring to a particular scam that originates in the African nation of Nigeria.
“Payment of taxes, bribes to government officials, and legal fees are often described in great detail with the promise that all expenses will be reimbursed as soon as the funds are spirited out of Nigeria. In actuality, the millions of dollars do not exist and the victim eventually ends up with nothing but loss,” the FBI states.
“Once the victim stops sending money, the perpetrators have been known to use the personal information and checks that they received to impersonate the victim, draining bank accounts and credit card balances until the victim’s assets are taken in their entirety. While such an invitation impresses most law-abiding citizens as a laughable hoax, millions of dollars in losses are caused by these schemes annually,” the FBI warns.
There are many variations on this Internet scam, some involving the expressed desire to plant new churches, donate large sums to a seminary, or provide Bibles to people groups who have none. It’s hard to believe folks fall for such a pitch but, according to the FBI, it happens often.
It’s particularly egregious when Southern Baptists fall prey to such artifice, because we already have the best system in the Protestant world to fund such mission endeavors. We don’t need to respond to scams foisted on us in the Name of the Lord to accomplish our duty under the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
Southern Baptists have the Cooperative Program, the missions offerings, and many other ways to support the spreading of the Gospel that have been proven effective and cost-efficient. If there are any doubts about whether a program is worthy of our involvement — spiritually as well as financially — we must be willing to do the research and ask the hard questions to be sure the cause is legitimate.
Don’t waste your money. Don’t waste the Lord’s money. Don’t respond to these scams. Do the right thing.
This article is reprinted from the September 20, 2007, issue of The Baptist Record, the newspaper of the Mississippi Baptist Convention.
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1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Dec 5th, 2007, at 5:28pm, Frank wrote:
Well, I cant agree more.