KFLCC Kingdom Economics

F INANCIAL S ECURITY IN THE L AST D AYS

groups. The first strategy is to enlist known religious leaders, sometimes giving them a monetary benefit to prove the investment works. Religious leaders were then unknowingly used by scammers to encourage congregational members to invest. Many of the past and possibly present day scams are called Ponzi or pyramid schemes. Any investment should be checked out in great detail, and not just by listening to the words of others. One of the clearest signs of a scam is when a promise is made of a huge financial return for a minimal investment. The facts are, if an investment seems too good to be true, then history shows that it usually isn’t true. One man promised that with your $1,000 investment, you will eventually receive up to $100,000! He offers currency and has been claiming for years that any day now the big return is coming. If this were true, then why isn’t his company holding on to the very thing they are offering instead of selling it to others, if they will receive such a huge return? If some of these investments were so lucrative, then there should be massive numbers of solid businessmen swallowing up the investments. Instead, government websites warn of scams, but so many choose to believe in the words of the one doing the promising, and it is impossible to convince them otherwise. The second thing a scammer wants is your banking information and social security number. For many years, people and even churches have received e mails stating that a rich Christian died and has left millions of dollars in a European or African bank for them. All they need is your banking information and $2,000 to release this wealth from a European or African bank, and you will suddenly be rich. I have read the e-mails and have had people call our office telling us they just received this and are planning on supporting the ministry with it. Their intention is so pure, yet some have wired money only to realize later it was all a fabrication. Millions of dollars have been lost and personal savings accounts wiped out with these scams. Even certain African banks and their presidents were part of the scams, providing false information to the person and in return taking their account numbers and draining their personal bank account in the U.S. dry. Hundreds of these scams originated in Nigeria after the income from oil declined many years ago. Here is an example of one letter that was sent: I have been requested by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company has recently concluded a large number of contracts of oil exploration in the sub-Sahara region. The contracts have immediately produced

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