There Ya Go
“
Dear friend in God.” That’s how an email I received last week started. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? But don’t be mislead.
The author introduced him/herself as Mrs. Margaret Richardson “from the United States of America (USA).”
You can see where this is going. Margaret — no, there is no such person — wasted little time in getting to the point, sharing with me that after selling all her inherited belongings after her husband’s death, she gained $3.5 million, which sits in a bank in Thailand.
Now, the sob story. The poor “woman” is undergoing cancer treatment, and has only a few months to live. It is her wish to see the money distributed annually to charity, the poor or motherless babies’ homes where she came from. Not sure what that last one means.
How nice — gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling, doesn’t it? This millionaire wants to donate her money to good causes. And she wants little ol’ me to be the middle man? Heck, I can do that. Easy-peasy. Wait.
At the end of her letter, she asked for my full name, address, telephone line, date of birth and my driver’s license. I just have to give her all that contact information for her bank.
To answer your obvious question, of course this is a scam.
We all get electronic scams and questionable phone calls. There are myriad scams out there, and some I find downright amusing. But this one bothered me.
One, don’t use cancer to get my sympathy. I know people who have cancer and who have lost their battle. This is not cool. Secondly, don’t double down by assuming I’m a God-fearing person. Yes, I am for sure, but including God in your scam is not only sacrilegious, it’s pathetic. Ma’am, or sir, or whatever, God didn’t create you to scam your fellow humans out of money or their identity. I write this as kind of a PSA in hopes that none of you reading this would fall for it. Some of you might have at some point in time been taken by a scammer, because they’re usually pretty good and most of the time rather believable. Scammers pray on others, that’s their thing.
Some, like Mrs. Richardson, try to take advantage of our big hearts and penchant for helping others, as well as our faith. Please, people, don’t fall for anything. For that matter, don’t answer your phone if you don’t know who’s calling.
Sorry, Margaret, I will not be helping you. Have a nice day.
