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03-19-2008, 05:19 AM
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Affinity Fraud Religious Scam
Religions are ripe for con artists and every once in a while we hear of some or the other scam being uncovered. One of the worst examples of religious scams is ‘Affinity Fraud’. Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities. These fraudsters pretend to be members of the group and often enlist respected community and religious leaders from within the group to spread word about the scheme. Many a times, these leaders become unwilling victims of the scheme.
Provided to the tight-knit structure of many groups, it is often difficult for regulators or law enforcement officials to detect an affinity scam. Many affinity scams involve “Ponzi” or “Pyramid” schemes, where new investor money is used to make payments to earlier investors to give false illusion that the investment is successful. How to Avoid Affinity Fraud? There are a few preventive measures you must take before you decide to invest into any scheme and thereby become victims of the affinity scam. • No matter how trustworthy the person making the offer may seem, check out every single detail. Try to avoid making an investment based solely on the recommendation of a member of an organization or religious group. • Never allow yourself to fall for investments that promise spectacular profits or guaranteed returns. Similarly, be extremely alert of any investment that is said to have no risks. • Be skeptical of any investment opportunity that is not in writing. Also be suspicious if you are asked to be confidential about the whole scheme. • Do not give in to any pressure to buy an investment before you have had your time to investigate the investment. • The fraudsters are nowadays inclined on using the internet to target particular groups through email spams. If you receive any such unsolicited email from someone, report immediately. Some recent affinity fraud schemes include: • Ponzi scheme targeting African-Americans and Christians: Defendants perpetrated an affinity fraud, raising about $16.5 million from African-Americans and Christians by falsely representing that they would receive returns through investments in small businesses and other things. • Church Funding Project: This nationwide scheme primarily targeted the African-American churches and raised at least $3 million. Many church victims believing to receive large monetary returns from the investments, committed to building projects, acquired new debt and contracted with builders. • Non-existent ‘Prime Bank’ trading programs: 
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