How To Detect and Deal With Scams

0:00 But there are things that you can do, that you can notice so that you can ask. I was thinking, how can I tell? Sometimes I've been fooled and I will tell you I've been fooled. So maybe I'm not the best person to suggest these things, but um, but there are some things that I think you can do to discern. I'm yours, I'm yours, I'm yours, and me Lord, I'm yours, I'm yours. I'm welcome to the Gospel centered pro life podcast, a podcast designed to equip, encourage and challenge you in pro life ministry, and always with a focus on the Gospel. Stay tuned. I felt your passh touch your heart. Use Me. Welcome back to the Gospel centered pro life podcast. Appreciate you guys joining us and, as always, we'd appreciate if you guys would share this podcast episode with family, ends anyone who would be blessed by it. And also want to cue you guys in on something we've talked about last couple of episodes, is the new website, revamped podcast website, Gospel centered pro life dot Com. It's a lot easier to search keywords for all the episodes that we have. So if you have a particular subject that you wonder if we covered Um that subject in a podcast episode. You can just search that.

1:21 It's also easier to access the episodes on different platforms. So if you go into each episode, there's little tabs at the bottom if you want to listen to the episode on apple or spotify or whatever. There's little tabs there. It's pretty cool, so check it out. And there's also a feature that is on that website that, if you look at the bottom right hand corner, there's a little microphone and that microphone, if you push that, it will give you the opportunity to record a voice message to us. It'll get sent over and, uh, maybe it's some feedback on an episode, maybe it's a testimony that you have to share, maybe it's something that happened on the sidewalk, or maybe a testimony from the past, maybe your personal testimony, something like that. We'd love to hear that from you guys, so take advantage of that. And that's Gospel centered pro life dot Com. With that, we're gonna get right into this episode. So what's our subject?

2:08 Vicky, how to detect and respond to scam MOMS. I hope that doesn't sound disrespectful. We love the MOMBS. It sounds weird, but some of them are fake moms. Okay, here's what we're talking about, guys. Especially in this day and age in post row America, as pro life organizations, we get hit from every angle. Right we're getting these threats. We did an episode about saying safe on the sidewalk because there's some threats out there. We also get pro abortion people that pretend to be moms that have chosen life. We even had one pro abortion person we reach out on our social media page saying that they're a former pro abortion person and now they've got religious or something. I can't remember how they worded it, but the way they worded it was obvious that they were not serious. They were trying to I don't know if they were trying to get information from US or they're trying to get I don't even know what their motive was. Who knows, but they were obviously they had even as their profile photo, like a stock image.

3:07 That's really how we were immediately cued into the fact that this was some pro abort so there is some there's some scams. You had some scammer pro abortion person reach out to you and say that they were considering an abortion and you went back and forth with them on text for a while, for like a week. Yeah, so so it happens and I think, well, we'll talk about some of the principles, right. I knew you've you've done this and uh, dealt with this a couple of times, or at least several times. I mean several times, probably more than I even know. Yeah, and even heard one of our missionaries out in California say that someone came across their radar, I think called one of their numbers, maybe from the back of the pamphlet or whatever, and said that they were wanting help, but it was obvious that they were a pro abortion person or there was somebody that's wanted to do some either ask some questions, to get some information that they could use, a enst us or something like that. and Um, and this guy's discernment, he said, my discernment was telling me this person is not legit. So he just ignored it. So of course the Lord's on our side. We can seek the Lord. God can give us wisdom, God can help us circumnavigate these things, but there's also just some practical wisdom that we can give from you, gotta give to you, guys, from some of our experiences. So that's what we want to do. Just the first and foremost, just to have you guys radar up. Not everyone is legit, not not everyone that claims to be a mom that needs help because she's considering an abortion is actually a mom that's considering an abortion. Sometimes it's a pro abort sometimes it's someone trying to infiltrate or something like that.

4:39 So just be aware of that. And so I tried to approach this subject from a very kind of logical, organized manner and thinking it through, because the gut response, I think of most of us is if they're a scam, if they're not real, we just hang up on them whenever or we ignore, we don't contact. I'm going to challenge that little bit. I don't think that should always be our response and I'm going to try and present the case why. Mostly why is because that's not what I do usually, but but that's not true. Sometimes I do. And so I wanted to lay out when do you engage, when do you not, and why? And the first honestly, the first question is why does it matter? Why does it matter that this is someone who is scamming or not, whether they're a fake mom or a real mom, because I will tell you the truth, if I'm going to engage whether I know, you know, I don't know necessarily whether they're real or not. I'M gonna say the same stuff anyway.

5:41 I'm not going to change who I am or the truth of the Gospel or the truth of the humanity of the baby or the truth of the resources. Those are truth and so my message will be remain the same. But there are things we definitely need to be aware of and be cautious into that. Yeah, yeah, if we do what we do out of the truth of God's Word and we do it consistently with the convictions that we hold in our hearts, that we got nothing to worry about. You know, I was actually aware of and concerned about a couple of years ago some pro abortion people kind of Um doing some investigation into my life, into my family and stuff like that. Even think maybe they hired a private investigator or something to follow me to find the information about me. Yeah, it's because of some of the things that pro abortion people said. I'm like, how do they know that? You know, but I've been very plain about my past and what the Lord saved me from, and I'm also I'm like, okay, yeah, please, like follow me and check up on me, like please do, and you'll see a man who's consistent with what he says. You can go and interview my kids and sometimes a jerk to my kids, but I can tell you I'm consistent because I believe in Jesus. Jesus has changed my life. I don't have anything to worry about right. I've got nothing to hide. So please follow me, please. You know, infiltrate, you can infiltrate my home, and what you're gonna find out is I love my wife, I love my kids, I love Jesus and I love you, and I'm gonna I'm gonna Preach The Gospel to you. Right. That's

7:12 how it is for us, like we've got nothing to hide. Even if we get some pro abortion infiltrator on board the mobile ultrasound unit, what are they gonna find? They're gonna find that we actually do all for a lot, that we do a lot of it. There's a real nurse, a real ultrasound, and it's not even an ultrasound of a chipmunk fetus like some have claim it's a real baby. We're consistent, if listen, if we're consistent and we do what we say we're gonna do, if we're consistent with the word of God, then we got nothing to hide and we got nothing to worry about. That's correct. However, given that, and and so live a life of integrity. Beod the Lord that that is critical for anyone in any Christian but I think even more so when you're in the ministry that is such a fierce spiritual battle. There's a skeleton in your closet that you're hiding because you're still living it. That's not good. That's going to be uncovered and that's that endangers you. It endangers the ministry. But it does matter, even though I'm going to speak to them in the same way.

8:16 I would suggest you. It does matter for you to learn how to differentiate or discern a scammer versus a real mom, because in one case a baby's life is on the line and in the other case it's not, and so there is definitely a different sense of urgency in in those two cases, and I'm you know, it's going to change. Whether I talked to them during my dinner hour or whether I wait and talk to them the next morning, for example. Yeah, of course, realizing too that many of the people that listening to this podcast or volunteers and they don't have more than just a couple of hours a week to volunteer in this capacity. Their high school moms or they're working a full time job or whatever. So you have to determine if someone reaches out to you, let's say, I mean the scenario that we're speaking from is you've got your number, maybe a google voice number.

9:15 That's what we encourage you guys to do. Put of a google voice number on the back of the brochures that you hand out of the abortion center. So maybe you've done that and you've gotten a text message. You're a phone call from someone and it could be a pro abortion person, it could be a mom that's considering an abortion. Right, you've got to determine if you think if you if there's a high likelihood that this is a pro abortion person, you can kind of pick up on some of the language that they use and and things like that. Um, then you've got to determine is it worth it for me to kind of bear with this conversation so that ultimately, I can show them that we're consistent and I can share the gospel with them. Or should I just ignore it? Right, because there's sometimes that you should, and maybe it's just seeking the Lord and asking the Lord for Wisdom. But at the end of the day, if it takes you off of the sidewalk, then you can't do it. You can't do it if it's a pro abortion person. Don't go back and forth of them. Don't waste your time. Just consider it giving pearls to swine. Jesus, that's a really, really important and good point. So, Um. So, anyway, I think we've we've lad the case that you should try to discern if who you're speaking with is authentic or not. Um, your radar will go up. I think if you're spiritually discerning at all, you will kind of feel that intuition, that radar that has been uh, kind of be being that something's off here, like you said, Um and, but there are things that you can do, that you can notice or that you can ask.

10:35 I was thinking, how can I tell sometimes I've been fooled. I will tell you I've been fooled. So maybe I'm not the best person to suggest these things. But Um. But there are some things that I think you can do to discern Um and some of the questions. For example, one of the first things I will ask how did this mom find out about us? Because if they kind of Hem and Han they can't quite tell us how, then they probably found out about us while they were on the sidebox, standing across the, you know, the parking lot from us and they're a pro abortion person. So how did they find out about you? So if they text you, you can ask the question. Okay, great, good to hear from you. How did you find out about us? Right, and I always asked that. I do always ask that and I can usually gauge from their response. Sometimes that's the initial giveaway immediately, not always.

11:22 So what are some of the answers that you've got? Um, well, uh, sometimes they have in hot I don't know, a friend of a friend, I think. And then you're already suspicious. I asked someone today that I thought could be a scammer. So how did you find out about us? And she said on, on the Internet, but then and then I pursued it. Oh, well, like what? And that's the thing. Don't just accept the first answer. Keep digging digging in and she said on on your website, and I said what website, and she said the love life website and then actually she said the love life facebook. So Um, there is enough detail at that point that I don't think she was a Scammera but like there were other things that you know. So Um.

12:09 So, yeah, listen to what they say about about how they found out. Um, how did she how did they get your phone number? Because my phone number is not on the Um, on the facebook or on the website. But if someone has gotten my phone number, Um, and I do use the Google phone number, and then I always ask how did you get my phone number? Now, if they say it was on the literature that you give out, I'm gonna have to talk to her as though she's a real mom, because that could be legitimate. However, the pro abortion crowd also has that phone number. So I'm gonna air on the side of it being a real mom. Yeah, response is I got it on the internet or I got it. That's going to be immediately suspect because it's posted there. Correct. It is not. It is not. They would not have gotten it there. So Um, then my next question is usually why are you contacting me, what's going on and make it open ended. What's going on is often what I'll say, and you can tell sometimes from their response that it's made up and or they'll if it's a pro abortion person, sometimes what I'll hear is like every single objection to pro life. Yeah, yeah, I just want to lay it out right there, make you feel bad about even standing for life because their situation. I've been raped by my by my brother. Yeah, Um, and it's in a topic pregnancy.

13:43 You know, it'll be kind of so off the wall. You know, every you can kind of tell that, okay, this is obviously not a mom that's really in need. But the good ones, and there are good ones, effective scammers and they will give usually a very legit amant um reason why they're contacting you. is she willing to speak by phone or only text? Okay, now, the ones that speak only by text are definitely more suspect, but on the other hand, in this day and age that's usually the preferred method of contact. But if they absolutely refuse to talk with you on the phone, that to me is a red flags flag. So, Um, what is her story and why is she seeking help? That's kind of what I said, why is she contacting you? But really delve into into that, ask a lot of questions is key in discerning it. Does their stories stay consistent? Yeah, and that's a way really to determine whether or not they're a scammer. Like if a woman is contacting you because she has a difficult situation, a day later she's not going to forget the details of that situation. So if you ask questions that are based on that previous scenario that she had given you and it's different the next day or something, it's it's pretty evident this person is a scammer and I don't know about you, but personally I think it's good just to plainly ask if you if you detect that they're trying to scam you. They're trying to again, what's the

15:16 scam? They're not trying to maybe they're trying to get money from us. I don't know if that's the case or not, but most of the time been up to up to this point in my experience, that has not been the motivation. Most of the time they're just trying to waste your time. They're trying to whatever. They're trying to get information and all that stuff, but I don't think it's bad just to ask. Hey, you could word it like this. There's some pro abortion people that try to get information from us. Are you one of those people? Can you just be honest with me? Yeah, yeah, and we'll go from there. Yeah, I think sometimes the answer could tell you whether or not they actually are. I mean, if it's a pro abortion person, they're probably not going to say no, I'm actually a pro abortion person, not a not a woman in need of help. Um, but I think just plainly asking and the answer that you get, if it is a mom in need, she it could be a telling answer. Actually. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so the direct approach is always an option and and sometimes that is that if they're lewd in any way, Um, which does happen sometimes, then I'll I'll alright say scammer and hang up on them if they you know, because I know that's not how a mom in need is going to be cheating me. And so there's a certain level of humility that a woman that reaches out to a stranger for help is going to have. Yeah, and if they lack that humility and they're just being, like you said, lude and crude and just throwing out rather than asking for help. All they're doing is throwing out accusations.

16:38 Then, yeah, just don't waste your I do say I'm praying for you before I hang up, usually not that that makes much difference, but I do. Um, here's here's a tip off. Does she seem to be speaking the talking points of the pro abortion industry? So you start hearing language, not and I don't mean bad language, but these sorts of things that the Um pro abortion people say as accusations against pro life people. That's not a mom's not the language that kind of stuff. That would be a tip off. Exactly. You hear those sorts of things? Yeah, because against atomy, exactly, my body, my choice, or those kinds of things. Those are not what I hear from the MOMS. I do not hear those, and especially from my mom who's reaching out for help. Those are not the sorts of things I hear. Um. The last one I already mentioned Um, and there's others, but these are the ones right off the top of my head. Maybe you'll live some more, but really be careful about looking for inconsistencies and do the facts change when they're questioned further?

17:42 Because those that's a that's a tip off that, if they're not a scam, they're lying, they're hiding. Something that happened today as as we counseled someone. So Um, we knew she was lying because the story just kept changing. and Um, I never call them a liar, or I really do, but I do keep asking questions and then I will deal with as I did today, with the issue of lying as a sin against God and an example that shows to me these are people who are not fully committed, they have not committed their life to the Lord. Yeah, yeah, now, of course, realizing that the moms that we minister to, who are legitimately in need of help, are prone to lying, they are changing the story, there's maybe some embarrassment or whatever there might be, or they won't tell you exactly what's going on, and so you have to dig a little deeper. But that is at least a yellow flag, if not a red flag. Exactly exactly. So, if you are convinced now you've you've maybe asked all these things and you've figured out, okay, they this is a scam. Um, we don't need to talk about about what to do if it's a mom in need. We've already dealt with that on many, many podcasts. Um. But if it is a scammer, I guess you know they're really are two choices. You hang up on them and you don't waste your time, or you decide to engage. And so I want to talk a little bit about Um, some thing's precautions. Don't do if you have

19:12 figured out there a scammer, UM, text or call from a google voice phone. Member, don't use your own cell phone. I just found out from a safety expert that talked with us that any cell phone number can be traced to your home and so, knowing that, yeah, I'd be very cautious about especially if you've just figured out you're talking to someone who's a scammer. Hopefully you're talking to her already on a google voice phone or text. Um, don't give out personal information at all. You don't want them to trace where you live or who you are. If you offer to meet, which some some of our counselors do want to meet with the women that they're counseling, and that's great, but make sure it is a very public place where you know there's gonna be plenty of other people around. Um, don't give d tales on the ministry or yourself. Uh, be careful with accusations.

20:06 Like I don't accuse them of scamming or lying. For one thing, it is possible I could be wrong. That has happened where I've accused them of being a scammer and they were not, and then I've lost, you know, an element of trust that I've worked hard to gain. So be careful. But then here's why I would engage with them. If you accuse them falsely or even rightly, you may lose the opportunity that maybe God has given you to save a soul. Of course we don't save the soul, he does, but that he has given you the opportunity to be used by him to speak. Yeah, yeah, and then again, like I talked about earlier, if we're actually consistent and we do what we say we're going to do and all the false notions that they have about us, that we're lying, that we force people to become Christians before we'll help them, those kind of things that they put out there, they're gonna actually find those things are true. You might actually win them over, maybe not to the Lord, but at least win them over that we're genuine people and that what we're doing is a legitimate ministry, that we actually are helping people. Yeah, and so when I'm in a text conversation, which is great because I've got the evidence of what I said and I can look back and think, is there anything I've said that is, Um, questionable and I'll correct it in the future. But Um, I do find these to be really rich opportunities to speak of the Lord and to speak of why they should value innocent human

21:37 life in the womb. So, Um, I use the same three talking points when I know that it's a scammer as when I know it's a mom. But of course I would probably reduce the emphasis on resources because they don't really need them. It's good to mention them because if it is a Scammera, then they realize we do what we say we're going to do and we too and we are going to offer these resources. But if I'm talking in our three talking points, God, humanity, the baby and resources, if I'm sharing the Gospel and the humanity of the baby, hopefully something is gonna, you know, enter their soul and and maybe and maybe change your heart.

22:18 Um. But something I discovered, because other people tell me, is especially if you're texting with them. screenshots of those texts could end up in hostile territory on social media. So is that a good thing? Might be. I think it could be. As long as we're consistent with the scripture. The word of God be being broadcasts right, right. So, but know that that could happen because be very careful, read your text carefully before you hit send when you're interacting with them. I don't know about your Serie, but my serie has a potty mouth. You would not. Yeah, and so I'll send text sometimes and then look back at it and I'm horribied what I have just sent. So do be careful, read over the text to make sure that they reflect. If you're part of love life, they better reflect what what we find to be true and good. Um. But be careful that you're above reproach, because they could be they could be made Um public and you certainly don't want to discredit your testimony as as a Christ follower or you know, in any way discredit God. Um. Oh, and I think that, no matter what, you should be respectful and kind because because you really might change her heart. Now, when the one that I interacted with recently it was for a full week and it was a big

23:48 time investment and I wasn't completely certain. I thought she might be a scammer, but I wasn't certain. So I did continue for about a week and in the end Um she sent a photograph of a an aborted fetus, saying I just took the pill and I just took it. She took it like an hour before this picture. And there's there's this picture she sent me. Clearly off the Internet. I'd seen the picture of an aborted baby, all cleaned up and everything, lying on an ice clean tablecloth. A real mom who has first of all, if you've just taken the pill, that baby's not gonna be aborted for several hours minimum and probably not till the next day or further Um. And next you're not going to clean that baby up and you know, so the baby there's no blood or anything. It's just perfectly clean little baby on a nice clean tablecloth. So I knew it was a scam at that moment, but I chose to continue ministering to her the way I would minister to a post abord of women and Sharing The Gospel and and actually trying to build a relationship and she's still talking to me now. After she hears this, maybe she won't, because I've never said I know you're fake. I've never said that. Picture is that the best you could do?

25:12 I've never said that, but I feel like God has put her in my path. The latest question she asked. She said that we were talking about believing in God and right before I went to bed, she said, she said, I used to believe in God. I said, well, what changed? And she said, Um, because I could not prove his existence to my children. And there was something about that that touched my heart because I'd been there. I knew exactly where she was on that spiritual journey. It might be fake, but I did address that Um and in fact, what I said I said, I'm about to go to bed, but I just want to put this out there. My brother is a scientist and he told me that gravity cannot be even, but only the effects of gravity.

26:03 And she said, well then that's proof, and I said, and that's how I proved God and left it and I and I thought that. Let her stew in that thought for a little while and who knows where to? He knows what if the Lord in his awesome wisdom has ordained this conversation to bring that young lady to the Lord. It could be. We don't know what it is, but you know it could be and and so I'm always waying that when I'm engaging in these in these conversations, and I think you know, some of you would not have the time to do it. There are times I really feel like I really don't have the time to do this, but at this point I'm kind of feeling like it is from God, that God is saying continues. So until I get a clear direction, okay, it's time to end this discussion. I'll probably keep keep talking with her. Yeah. Well, guys, be in prayer for that young lady or man or whoever it is that Vicky's engaging with, and also just stay in prayer. God can give you, guys, wisdom. When you get people that come across your radar, they text you or they may be a message you on social media or whatever, and they could be scammers or whatever.

27:18 God will give you wisdom. God can reveal that and as long as you're consistent, you've got nothing to worry about. Right, as long as you do what God's word says we should be doing. You've got nothing to worry about. God will use it for his glory. God's words going forth. God's word doesn't return void. So whether you're talking to a pro aboard that's pretending to be a mom that's pregnant need in need of help, or you're talking to a mom who's indeed pregnant and in need of help, either way, God's Word isn't gonna Return Void, and so we are praying for you, guys, and UH. I hope this podcast episode was a blessing. You, guys, please share this with your friends family members that would be blessed by it. Please reach out to us. You can reach me Daniel at Love Life Dot Org. You reach her Vicky, with a y at Love Life Dot Org. We'd love to hear from you, but until next time, God bless God, bless you all. Give me our life for love. Give me our life for gratitude. I know it will cost me my life. Nothing's too precious. Since I met you, M