Expert: Watch Out for Faith Fraud
A consumer advocate is warning the public about a simple and effective fraud method that robs people and churches of money every year.
Chris Markowski, host of Watchdog on Wall Street, tells OneNewsNow that affinity fraud is responsible for taking hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
“Affinity fraud’s real simple: You use various, different means to make yourself be similar to someone, then all of a sudden, you kind of get in that person’s good graces and they can trust you,” he explains. “I’ve been covering affinity fraud for a long period of time, and more often than not, you see these guys work their way into Bible study groups [and] various…church organizations; they can cite the Gospels with the best of them, but it’s all a part of their scam.”
But he contends that “everything in life that has meaning, value and worth involves work, time and effort.” So if someone offers a magical way to make quick money, the equity analyst points out that “it’s a surefire thing that it’s going to be a scam.”
“There’s not a week goes by where I don’t hear from some church where somebody worked his way into a Bible study group and said that he had some biblical way of investing money and that people ended up trusting him and then all their money is gone,” Markowski laments.
So he advises that consumers be cautious of anyone who “needs to use the Lord to sell their investment,” and he recommends getting referrals from those who mention investments and other ventures.
(Source: OneNewsNow)
