I’ve now encountered several people who have been tempted by the Nigerian Scam or 419 or it’s official name, the Advance fee fraud. Here’s how it looks:
You receive and email that says, "My husband is dying of cancer in London, he is a rich oil executive from Nigeria. I am in need to transfer $40,000,000 to a US Citizen upon his death. Blah blah blah."
Why does something that looks so much like a scam fool so many very intelligent people?
- People aren’t very sophisticated internet users. I hope that doesn’t come off as rude, but the average internet user isn’t as sophisticated at sniffing out a scam via email as they would be in their mailbox at home.
- This capitalizes on something in our culture. We all would like to believe that we can get rich quick. We want to get something we haven’t earned… heck, some of us secretly hold out hope that they are really royalty and it’s just a matter of time before the truth is known and we assume our throne!
The reality is that the Nigerian scam is just that… a scam. The money is never going to come. You aren’t going to get rich. All you’ll ever do is feel foolish and support gangs of scammers in foreign lands. Again… this isn’t something I know about in theory, it’s something people here in Romeo are tempted with.
In light of this, here is a great article from Back to the Bible that addresses this from a spiritual angle. I love this quote.
While
true Christians may stop short of extortion and robbery, the pursuit of wealth
can easily become the focal point of their lives. Our society, especially in
the United States,
encourages us to make the acquisition of money and things all-important. According to Nancy Beach, director of programming
and a teaching pastor at Willow Creek
Community Church
in South Barrington, Illinois,
"In the United States alone, the advertising
industry spends over six billion dollars a day. The result is that envy is
pervasive, and far too many of us live in a perpetual state of longing."
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