4 ms·

Oooh I didn't know this had a name. Family members have fallen victim to this several times to con men that came into their churches and pretended to be "one

Oooh I didn't know this had a name. Family members have fallen victim to this several times to con men that came into their churches and pretended to be "one of them" and had a special ponzi or pyramid scheme from God to share. The churchgoers instantly let their guard down, what an easy con. People in a church already have a tendency to believe in things.

jacquesm 5y ago
That's exactly why many scam emails start off with some religious salutation. If that doesn't put you off you're worth investing some time in because you have self-identified as gullible mark.
- where-group-by 5y ago
  Sounds similar to the Nigerian prince emails in principle.
emodendroket 5y ago
I don't think the issue is that they "have a tendency to believe in things" so much as they are among of group of people who've voluntarily associated on the basis of shared beliefs. Looking through the article identifies other groups like immigrant communities as other popular targets. The hint is in the "affinity" part.
hellbannedguy 5y ago
I knew a guy who did this. Couldn't believe the amount he took from parishioners. He moved after his caper. The minute I met him I knew he was a lying, but felt bad for feeling that way. I felt like I was judging him by race.
- drclau 5y ago
  If you were aware there's an ongoing scam, I hope you reported him to the relevant authorities.
nwatson 5y ago
Check out Stan Johnson of the "Prophecy Club" on YouTube and elsewhere. He's been riding various Evangelical trends since the nineties or even the eighties with promotional tie-ins to various enterprises, e.g. prepper food/technology, silver bullion, prophecy videos and conferences. I can't imagine he's making all that much these days and his hybrid physical/online seems small. He got the COVID-19 a couple of times and didn't bother to tell his still-meeting congregation about it until quite late. He preys on the gullible ... but in some Black Swan event sort of way (e.g. extended regional power outage) his adherents may come out ahead for a short time.
- agency 5y ago
  Similar with Jim Bakker[1]. The guy went to prison for fraud and went straight back to televangelism when he got out and sells buckets of freeze-dried food to his parishioners to prepare for the end times. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker
NelsonMinar 5y ago
The most famous recent example is Bernie Madoff who regularly preyed upon other Jewish people and organizations. Not as explicitly religious as some famous Christian hustles (like various forms of prosperity gospel) but definitely an adjacent kind of affinity fraud. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/madoff-jewish-affinity-fraud/460446/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/madoff-...
tragomaskhalos 5y ago
I don't know the details, but some years back my Jehovah's Witness uncle and his family got heavily involved in some pyramid selling scheme for some kind of health powder. Your comment makes me wonder if they were introduced to it by another JW - this would be a very powerful hook, as JWs are incapable of even conceiving that other members of the cult might be up to no good.

jacquesm 5y ago

That's exactly why many scam emails start off with some religious salutation. If that doesn't put you off you're worth investing some time in because you have self-identified as gullible mark.

where-group-by 5y ago
Sounds similar to the Nigerian prince emails in principle.

emodendroket 5y ago

I don't think the issue is that they "have a tendency to believe in things" so much as they are among of group of people who've voluntarily associated on the basis of shared beliefs. Looking through the article identifies other groups like immigrant communities as other popular targets. The hint is in the "affinity" part.

hellbannedguy 5y ago

I knew a guy who did this. Couldn't believe the amount he took from parishioners. He moved after his caper. The minute I met him I knew he was a lying, but felt bad for feeling that way. I felt like I was judging him by race.

drclau 5y ago
If you were aware there's an ongoing scam, I hope you reported him to the relevant authorities.

nwatson 5y ago

Check out Stan Johnson of the "Prophecy Club" on YouTube and elsewhere. He's been riding various Evangelical trends since the nineties or even the eighties with promotional tie-ins to various enterprises, e.g. prepper food/technology, silver bullion, prophecy videos and conferences. I can't imagine he's making all that much these days and his hybrid physical/online seems small. He got the COVID-19 a couple of times and didn't bother to tell his still-meeting congregation about it until quite late. He preys on the gullible ... but in some Black Swan event sort of way (e.g. extended regional power outage) his adherents may come out ahead for a short time.

agency 5y ago
Similar with Jim Bakker[1]. The guy went to prison for fraud and went straight back to televangelism when he got out and sells buckets of freeze-dried food to his parishioners to prepare for the end times. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker

NelsonMinar 5y ago

The most famous recent example is Bernie Madoff who regularly preyed upon other Jewish people and organizations. Not as explicitly religious as some famous Christian hustles (like various forms of prosperity gospel) but definitely an adjacent kind of affinity fraud. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/madoff-jewish-affinity-fraud/460446/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/madoff-...

tragomaskhalos 5y ago

I don't know the details, but some years back my Jehovah's Witness uncle and his family got heavily involved in some pyramid selling scheme for some kind of health powder. Your comment makes me wonder if they were introduced to it by another JW - this would be a very powerful hook, as JWs are incapable of even conceiving that other members of the cult might be up to no good.