I praise God that He spared me today from being potentially scammed for a large amount of money. I hope that this testimony may somehow be used to spare someone else from falling prey in a similar way.
A few weeks ago, I posted an ad online for tutoring. I was encouraged to receive two replies the very next morning after posting the ad. The first reply went nowhere, but the second seemed promising.
I followed up on the second one and engaged in a series of e-mails with this prospective client. Supposedly, this client was a person coming from overseas to be in Greenville for a month. During that time, he wanted me to tutor his daughter in Algebra.
He said that he wanted many hours of tutoring each week. Because I had been praying for God to meet an upcoming financial obligation, I was thinking that this was His provision. I rejoiced in thinking how He seemingly had answered my prayer so directly.
As things progressed, he informed me that he would be sending me a check to pay for all the tutoring in advance. He asked how much I would charge and agreed to that amount.
Soon afterward, however, he sent a message telling me that he had made a mistake in making out the check. He said that he had mistakenly written one check instead of the two that he was supposed to have written, one to me and one to someone else.
He then told me that I was to deposit the check upon receiving it, take out the amount agreed upon for my tutoring, and then send the rest by Western Union to another party. Upon receiving this information, I was convinced that this was a scam and informed him that he needed to repent of his sin.
Thinking that this matter was finished, I was shocked to receive yet another e-mail from him today that told me that he had sent a check to me by Federal Express and that I would be receiving it today. He even gave me a tracking number to check. I did so and discovered that the check had already arrived this morning and was waiting for me when I would return from work in the afternoon.
Examining the check, which was more than five times the amount that we had agreed upon for my tutoring, I was appalled at the wickedness of this party. I was also grateful that God had given me helpful input from trusted friends that confirmed to me that this was a scam.
I took the check to my bank, and they assured me that it was a phony check. They recommended that I take it to a local branch of the same bank that issued the check. I did so, and they confirmed that it was indeed a fraudulent check.
Had the circumstances been slightly different, I might have lost a lot of money to this scam. Having never dealt with such a situation before, I find it revolting that there are people out there who prey on others in this way.
Praise God for His mercy in saving me from this scammer!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
