It’s no secret that this world is going a bit crazy. One YouTuber I follow calls it Clownworld. I kind of like that, because clowns are a little scary, too.
One symptom of Clownworld is a teetering economy. With money worries come scams. I had a couple of interesting ones try to take my money recently. Artists are targets, just like everyone else.
The first scam was an email from ‘Europe’ (they didn’t give a country) saying they had $4,000 and wanted to buy a piece of my art, maybe two. That was easy to spot, because if he was honest, he would have hit my PayPal button on any of my products and just bought a piece. I guess I was bored that day, so I followed it to its end: the guy sent me a check, which I took, with a printout I’d found online of his actual house in Florida, to my bank’s fraud department.
The next one kind of had me going: it was a ‘job interview’ for freelance work for a very famous gaming company that had created a well-known video game. They had me download a chat app. A little question formed in the back of my brain, but I figured this was how they did things. For about an hour, off and on, they texted questions about my art, illustration, my process, working with people: all of the questions interviewers ask. It looked like their responses were automatic, but again, I figured they were being efficient.
When they told me to check the next morning to see if I had gotten the position at 8am, sure enough, at 8am on the dot, they congratulated me. Then, they said they would buy me all of the equipment I would need, including a ‘2018 Apple laptop’.
Now, I do need a new computer. My laptop works well, but it’s from the Industrial Era, and I know I will need to have a new one soon.
Thankfully, I smelled what they were doing and deleted the app. This time I didn’t have the patience to get that big check they said they were Fedexing out.
I wish I could say I have always avoided temptation like that, but, like you, I haven’t. I’ve been scammed by people on different levels. For years though, since I have been learning from scripture what to do and what not to, those scams don’t get me. There are rules I live by:
- Never have a carrot. Just like the donkey with the carrot on a stick in front of its face, that carrot will have you chasing it. If you aren’t looking for fast money, a back-door solution to a problem, or a good time with no consequences, you can’t get caught. ‘Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.’ 1 Timothy 6: 9-10
- Ask a friend. As scams get more creative, they are harder to spot. Chances are, someone else—a friend, coworker or family member—has seen a scam you’re dealing with, or maybe they just smell something ‘off’. It’s better to ask than to get taken.
- Trust your gut. Most times, if it doesn’t feel right, that’s your ‘knower’ saying it isn’t. ‘The wisdom of the prudent isto understand his way, but the folly of fools is’ Proverbs 14:8.
Clownworld will keep trotting out its craziness, including scammers. Finding scriptures from the bible that pertain to things that trouble me not only brings wisdom on how to handle them, but peace. Proverbs—the book of wisdom—has a chapter for every day of the month. I read it every morning, so it’s like the breakfast of the wise!
