Martha's blog on the Beliefnet_Community page.

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DOES SHE WANT LOVE, OR  MONEY?

If you received an inbox message  from a young woman looking for love, be very cautious.  She might be trying to  trick you into helping with an internet scam.

This is a more complicated  version of the so-called “Nigerian 419” scam. Most of us have received an email  offering a huge sum of money in exchange for helping transfer funds from a  foreign bank. And most of us realize right away that it’s a scam, and simply  delete it. But as we grow more wary, the scammers behind the emails (who really  are from Lagos, Nigeria) grow more creative. Most Americans now realize that  wiring money out of the country is potentially dangerous. So the scammers now  try to recruit unsuspecting Americans as go-betweens.

Lonely people, susceptible to  such advances, may respond to these messages. The scammer appears to fall in  love with them. As a “relationship” seems to develop, they believe they have  found love online. The scammer then convinces this American mark to deposit a  check sent to them, and transfer it to them in another country. They might be  told that the money is for emergency funds for disaster relief, medical  expenses, or some other dire need. However, the money comes from another scam  victim, who thinks they are safely sending it to an American bank account.  Little do they know that the recipient will simply transfer the funds directly  to the scammer.

According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_scam)  faith-related social networks like Beliefnet are prime targets because the  scammers assume users are more complacent, and users may be duped by a scammer’s  pretext of faith. Let’s show them that Beliefnet members are smarter, and will  not fall for their tricks!

Here are some ways to protect  yourself:

Make financial donations for  disasters and emergencies ONLY through registered 501-c-3 charities found at www.guidestar.org.

Before you get too deeply  involved with someone online, get their real name, street address and phone  number, and check them out.

If your online romantic interest  asks for money for ANY reason, be very suspicious.

Do not cash checks or money  orders sent to you by people you only know from the  internet.

Never transfer money to someone  you only know from the internet, especially in another  country.

More information: 

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8171053/

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8704213/