The author comments on affinity fraud schemes targeting people on Facebook and in churches. They acknowledge it would be foolish to invest money with strangers on Facebook and share a story of their aunt losing money in a pyramid scheme at her church where she was a "perfect target" due to her age and trusting nature. The author expresses sympathy for victims of these scams but also frustration with the criminals who design schemes to intentionally target and hurt people rather than pursuing legitimate work.

1. Kristi D. King
White Collar Crime
Blog Comment

2. This actually tickled me. First, you have to be incredibly stupid to EVER invest your money
with an acquaintance from Facebook. In addition, what if you really do have people who request
you as a friend, and you really just do not remember them? Hell, this happens to me all the
time…Grant it, I used to drink a lot. LOL! Whatever the case, I am not going to refrain from
accepting requests out of fear of being sucked in by an affinity fraud. I do have compassion for
victims who may have been targeted at their church. In fact, my aunt, who is active in her
church, actually was sucked in to one of these scams. I do not remember how much money she
paid for the gold coins she purchased that promised a return, but I do know that she never got her
coins or money. I believe it was a pyramid scheme. My aunt is 78 years old. Growing up in a
different era, and having never really dealt with persons possessing "bad characters", she along
with her fellow church members were PERFECT targets for affinity fraud. Who are the people
who think of this shit? If clever criminals of this nature would focus their energy/attentions on
legitimate sources of income, they may actually be successful without hurting people in the
process. F*****G HUMAN!@%?!?