Life as a Christian Woman

I finally had my fill this morning. I receive e-mail scams and phishing e-mails everyday due to my name and contact information being in several places on the web. Most of these phishing messages claim to come from Nigerian officials. Some e-mail scams claim to be a poor woman whose husband died and left 5 million dollars in the bank, which she can’t get unless it first transferred to a US account. I have also received several claiming I won the UK lottery. Usually, I just delete these e-mails and go about my business. But after reading some messages on social websites, I realized that there really are people who fall for these scams. Usually it is women who are desparate for money and will try anything to get it. I suppose our emotional nature makes us as women more susceptible to the pleas of a young widow (who may be a 50-year-old man writing from a corner office). The following is a quoted message from one of these forums:

Anyway, I am trying to meet new people and to give some really important advice to everyone. If you are ever approached by someone online that offers you money for cashing money orders for them, DO NOT!

You may be thinking I am an idiot for falling for this scam, I was almost royally ripped off by what appeared to be a legiimate company that worked out of the UK. They had a real web site and everything, I did research the ‘company’ before agreeing to anything.

I had never really given much thought to the fact that some people might actually believe these phishing scams. So, like I said, I finally had my fill this morning when I received another one claiming to be a Nigerian company that would send me an ATM card with which I could withdraw up to $3,500 a day. I remembered reading a passage in the book of Psalms recently and searched until I found it again. This was my response to the e-mail:

The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

Psalms 10:2, 12, 15 KJV

Perhaps it is a bit harsh. Perhaps it was silly of me to spend my time sending the reply. But God’s word is clear on the punishment awaiting those who pray on the poor and opressed. E-mail scams rob from the poor and desparate. My Christian answer to phishing might seem ridiculous, but might it also plant a seed and cause the perpetrators to take pause and reconsider their actions? Only God knows. I only know I am fed up with them.

christianity, christian women, e-mail scam, scams, phishing, ministry