Religious people are always willing to help others, especially other believers. They are generous and trustworthy because their religion teaches them that giving to their fellow believers is a virtue and selfishness is a sin.
As such, they are often blind to any wrongdoing, instead focusing on spirituality and hoping that God will make everything right. Scammers take advantage of this and convince religious people to give them money or valuable possessions to help someone in need, such as a family member, neighbor, friend, or even a stranger who needs money for medicine or burial expenses for a family member. Here we shall discuss ten ways religious people get scammed.
Religious people are often very charitable and donate money to any cause they consider worthwhile. They are often convinced that the money is going to a non-profit organization or church worthy of the donation. Religious people may also give blood or time to help others in need. While charitable gifts are always appreciated, some non-profit organizations and churches are scams. Some scammers will go so far as to create a fake charity that sounds legitimate to get people to donate money only for some of the profits from the donations to go back into funding the scam itself. Some of these organizations are legitimate, but others take advantage of the generosity and good intentions of religious people.
Religious people often set up collection boxes in churches and at charity events. These collection boxes are usually aimed at helping a good cause, like funding the building of a new church or helping to feed the poor. Sometimes, however, these collection boxes are a scam. Sometimes they are legitimate, but sometimes they are not. A scammer will go into a church and place fake money into the collection box after distracting an employee or volunteer from the congregation by going to them with some problem. Some scammers will even slip in an empty box and tell the person taking the money that it is for a charity and get them to put money in it. Once the scammer is gone, others may find this box, think it is for a good cause, and donate to it. This money will never go to anyone or anything.
Many religious people give money to the church's pastor or some other religious leader with a donation for a church or charity, thinking that this money will help others. Scammers use this same scenario and devise a way to trick religious people into giving them money. One way is by telling the person they are collecting money from certain congregation members to help out a church that needs repairs or to help another church in a different part of the country or even the world with some disaster. This allows the scammers to steal money from trusting and generous people without ever going anywhere near where they say it is going.
Scammers have taken the gift-giving concept one step further. They may approach people and convince them they have a special gift for them. The gift may be expensive or even valuable to the person receiving it, which is why they need to give the gift to the scammer, who will then sell it to make a profit. Some of these gifts are real, but many are fakes made by scammers trying to fool religious people into thinking their gift is special and valuable.
Scammers will sometimes create a fake miracle to scam religious people out of money or possessions. They tell the person they are religious and have been given a special gift, the power and the ability to perform miracles. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a blessing or an act of God, so religious people may be more likely to believe a person who tells them that they have been blessed with the power to heal others of their ailments or even raise the dead. Many religious people will fall for this scam and give scammers money or possessions to help them on their mission.
Scammers are very good at convincing people that they are part of a religious group. This is why they will often attempt to convince people that they have been chosen to relay their message or perform a particular act and that the world would be better for it. Scammers often tell them that God knows about their work and asks them to give them money for this work to be done. The scammer may even try to convince them that God will reward them with fame and fortune once their work is done. This is such a common scam that religious people have been given special training to avoid falling for it.
Other scams revolve around the idea that a religious person must do something to eliminate some ailment or disease. The scammer will tell them that there is a special diet, remedy, or exercise they need to do to be healed of what ails them. This scam is specifically targeted at very religious people who may be desperate for help in getting cured of an illness or affliction. Scammers will set up fake websites to convince people that a remedy for a particular ailment is real.
Some scammers will approach religious people and convince them they have been chosen to help a group suffering from terrible financial problems. Scammers often claim to be from some church, charity, or other organization that needs donations to help people with debt. The scammer will tell the person they need to give them money or other things to help reduce the debt.
Scammers are very good at telling religious people that they need to give them money to help pay for medical bills, especially if the person has no medical insurance. Scammers will even claim they need special prayers, cures, and certain herbs that can only be found in other countries to cure the person's illness and get them back on their feet again.
Scammers often attempt to scam people out of money or other things by offering them marriage proposals. The scammer will tell the person that God wants them to get married and give them the deed to their house for the two of them to live together. The scammer will then ask for money or other things to complete the purchase of this house and make it their own. Scammers often use the word "divorce" in the offer and tell the victim that they want them to get divorced so they can live together.
Many scammers use religion to target their victims because religious people tend to be more trusting, generous, and forgiving. Some of these scams may seem very real and believable to the victim, who is likely to believe they are experiencing a miracle or some blessing from God. Many religious people also have money or other valuables that can be stolen from them through scams. The scammers will often speak with a convincing tone that makes them seem much more trustworthy than they are.