Thieves Lurk in the Shadows Online

If it sounds too good to be true....

"Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am former Mrs. Fatima Egunbe Otu, now Mrs. Mary Egunbe Otu, a widow to the late Sheik Egunbe Otu."

That's how an e-mail I recently received started out. "I am 72 years old," the message continued. "I am a new Christian convert, suffering from long time cancer of the breast. From all indications, my condition is really deteriorating and is quite obvious that I may not live more than six months, because the cancer stage has gotten to a very severe stage."

"My late husband was killed during the Gulf War and during the period of our marriage we had a son who was also killed in cold blood during the Gulf War. My late husband was very wealthy and after his death, I inherited all his business and wealth. My personal physician told me that I may not live for more than six months and I am so scared about this. So, I now decided to divide part of this wealth contributing to the development of evangelism in Africa, America, Europe and Asian countries. This mission, which will no doubt be tasking, has made me recently relocate to Nigeria, Africa where I live presently. I selected your church after visiting the Web site for this purpose and prayed over it. I am willing to donate the sum of $10 million to your Church/Ministry for the development of evangelism and also as aids for the less privileged around you.

"Please note that this fund is lying in a Security Company in Switzerland and the company has branches. Therefore my lawyer will fine an immediate application for the transfer of the money in the name of your ministry. Please, do not reply to me if you have the intention of using this fund for personal use other than the enhancement of evangelism.

"Lastly, I want you/your ministry to be praying for me as regards my entire life and my health because I have come to find out since my spiritual birth lately that wealth acquisition without Jesus Christ in one's life is vanity upon vanity.

"May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. I await your urgent reply."

The e-mail was signed "Yours in Christ" from a Mrs. Mary Egunbe out of Bodija, Ibadan, Nigeria.

We responded to Mrs. Otu, writing that we would use the money as intended and that we would keep her in our prayers. She responded to our reply by giving us the e-mail address of her lawyer, whom she said would give us further instructions on what to do to receive the donation.

At this point, I decided to do some checking. The lawyer's e-mail ends with lawyer.com. I looked for that Web site, but came up with nothing. Next, I used network solutions' "whois" directory to see who owned that domain name. Easylink Services Corporation in New Jersey owned it. Their Web site told me they were involved in the transaction-delivery segment of the electronic commerce industry, providing solutions to more than 20,000 companies worldwide. I figured the lawyer, one Barrister Ade Omolomo, must work for them.

Sure enough Barrister Ade Omolomo's next e-mail to me asked for an upfront fee of $850 "for the processing of your documents and file."

"As soon as your payment is received," the message concluded, "the processing of your donation will commence. Best regard, Barrister Ade Omolomo."

Last year, according to Gavin McCormick, from the Associated Press, at least 16 people fell victim to this elaborate plot, which pinged millions of e-mail boxes. Those 16 people reported losses of $345,000 including two unidentified people who lost $78,000 and $74,000. Of 17,000 fraud complaints to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, on the internet at wwwl.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp 2,600 concerned solicitations from Nigeria. That put the country at the top of those outside the United States generating complaints.

The moral of this story is a quote from Brother Frederick , here at the monastery: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't."

By the way, if you have a spare $10 million we could use it. Then again, perhaps I should stick to buying lottery tickets.

Pope John Paul II's encyclical On the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church and the World is a good place to start at vatican.va/edocs/ENG0142/_INDEX.HTM

Then you will want to se the catechism of the Catholic Church's section entitled "I Believe In the Holy Spirit" scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c3.htm

Next, how about taking a quiz on the "Holy Trinity" and the "Holy Spirit and the Church" presented by the U.S. Conferences of Catholic Bishops? nccbuscc.org/catechism/quizzes/index.htm

Were those quizzes too easy? If so, how about taking a dive into the Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas? Questions 36 through 38 deal with the Holy Spirit. newadvent.org/summa/1.htm

Interested in the charismatic renewal movement, which gives special emphasis to the Holy Spirit? nsc-chariscenter.org

For more links on the Holy Spirit, see our online Catholic directory on that category at monksofadoration.org/holyspir.html