It is always interesting to see how people try to scam cryptocurrency users. It is a trend that will not go away anytime soon, yet people have shown an impressive degree of creativity in this regard. One of the “older” scams going around involves the supposed building of a church in the name of Jesus Christ. This effort requires Bitcoin donations, and it’s being advertised on Craigslist.
The Lord Wants Your Bitcoin
While it is certainly possible that legitimate efforts exist to build a new church funded entirely by Bitcoin donations, it does not appear this infamous Craigslist advertisement is one of them. In fact, it seems to try and trick Christians into donating to a fictitious church which will never be built. According to some Reddit users, this advertisement has been circulating on Craigslist for some time now, even though it doesn’t show up in every region.
According to the message itself, it seems the Lord is calling upon his disciples to build a new church. The main purpose of this church is to educate the “younger generation” as to how they should lead their lives. With so many changes taking place in the world today, it is only normal that religious beliefs are taking a bit of a backseat right now. New generations show less and less interest in going to church, praying, and religious beliefs in general. Turning that ship around will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
To combat this problem, this Craigslist advertisement calls upon all Christians to make Bitcoin contributions to a specific address. While there is nothing wrong with that per se, the lack of any contact information, address details, or even a name associated with this venture does raise a lot of questions. It appears this “church” is merely a scam intended to collect Bitcoin donations.
Anyone with a functioning brain will know such anonymous efforts to “raise Bitcoin” are usually scams. It seems this particular religion-oriented effort is not all that different in this regard. By listing such an ad on Craigslist, it has also become evident the people behind it are trying to trick as many users into donating as possible. Appealing to one’s religious beliefs to do so is certainly despicable, as building a new church can easily be done without Bitcoin and in a far more transparent manner.
Whether or not people will donate significant funds to this potential scam remains to be seen. It seems different Bitcoin addresses are used in different regions. This does indicate a well-orchestrated approach to this venture, even though there will always be Bitcoin users who only see the positive side of this effort and consider it to be legitimate just because it is done out of religious belief.
Unfortunately, it seems we will only see more of these efforts in the near future. After all, any scam related to cryptocurrency usually becomes quite profitable, and cashing out even one Bitcoin results in a paycheck of over US$10,000 right now. Most people have to work several months to see that kind of money. It is important that Bitcoin users remain vigilant at all times and never fall victim to these obvious attempts at stealing their money.
