WHEN THE CHURCH IS A VICTIM
Our current society is filled with religious fanatics and fraudsters are aware of this problem, and have capitalized on this blind trust to defraud unsuspecting church members. Fraudsters prey on the trust of congregants to defraud them of their money.
Members of faith community believe and blindly trust the leadership of the congregation they belong. Therefore, they do not think twice to invest their life savings and give donations beyond their tithes and offerings.
Unfortunately, our society has become immune to the problem all in the name of religion but actually what may be happening is what is called Affinity fraud.
Affinity fraud is a type of investment scam in which a person takes advantage of an identifiable group of people. It is perpetuated among identifiable groups such churches, religious groups, ethnic communities, the elderly or professional groups.
According to ACAMS, “the majority of victims who experience affinity fraud endure the risk of being targeted because of personality and character traits that entail compassion and respect of leaders”2.
Affinity fraudsters penetrate into the churches, recruit leaders and convince them to spread the word about the fraudulent investment scheme. Most often, those leaders are victims of the fraudsters.
A strategic intelligence consulting firm, Marquet International conducted a study and recognised that affinity fraud had “global losses up to $50 billion”.3 There are different kinds of affinity fraud; apparently, affinity “religion” fraud is the most common because so many congregants hold their pastors on a pedestal or trust other members of the congregation.