Just when you think you’ve seen every painfully obvious rip-off scheme out there, here comes another one. If they weren’t so wrong, some of them would be funny.
Maybe you, like me, have gotten emails from senders claiming to be government officials or even royalty requesting help in transferring huge amounts of money out of some African country. All we have to do, they say, is send them money or provide them with our financial information and we’ll be repaid many times over for our kindness.
Of course, those who fall for this scheme never see their “investment” money again and some have had their bank accounts drained. This con actually nets criminals millions of dollars every year, according to the FBI.
I received an outlandish email a while back that immediately set my “bogus” alarm blaring. The message informed me I had won $500,000 and a new Apple laptop. All I had to do was send personal information, including a credit card number, to Mr. Barry Delp.
Out of curiosity, I did an internet search for Mr. Barry Delp and found a sample of a similar email sent out with that name attached. Here are some selections from that email:
“Dear Guaranteed Winner … On behalf of Gmail/Microsoft Lottery we felicitate with you and your family for being one (1) of our five (5) winners selected in these annual promotion sweepstakes. Hence, we do believe with your winning. You will continue to be an active patronage to Gmail/Microsoft Windows. You have successfully passed the requirements, statutory obligations, validations and satisfactory report test conducted for all online winners. …. Please you should also send a copy of your winning form containing your winning details down to the courier company for reference purpose.”
Is it just me, or does it seem like Mr. Delp’s grasp of the English language isn’t great? He can “felicitate” with me ’til the cows come home, but his email will still read like the horribly translated instructions that come with some electronic devices I’ve bought.
I haven’t fallen for any of these crazy get-rich cons, but I have fallen for some others. In fact, we all get deceived occasionally. Deceiving and being deceived is part of our fallen nature, handed down from our earliest ancestors, Adam and Eve, who fell prey to the first and still-worst scammer in the universe, Satan.
Unfortunately, Satan’s tricks are usually much harder to detect than pleas for money from fake African royals or Mr. Barry Delp. The Bible says this darkest of angels can actually appear as an “angel of light” as he subtly and persistently detects and exploits our vulnerabilities. He sets a trap with bait that promises to fill holes we think God can’t fill. His goal? To kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10).
Prisons, rehab clinics and other destinations for broken people are full of folks who’ve fallen for Satan’s biggest scam—the same one he’s been running since the Garden of Eden when he asked Eve (Genesis 3:1), “Did God actually say …?” He hasn’t had to change his approach because it’s never stopped working.
Did God really say He loves you with an everlasting love? Did He really say He’ll supply all your needs? Did He really say that all who put their trust in Jesus can experience supernatural joy and peace, have eternal life, and escape the judgment that is coming upon our rebellious, fallen world?
Yes, He did. Believe Him or believe the “father of lies (John 8:44).” The one we choose to believe determines everything about our present and future, so it behooves us to choose wisely “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11).”