Sadly, scams (where people obtain money by deceiving others) are increasing and there are some people who create fake accounts even on WhatsApp, or other social media platforms, in order to appear to look genuine.

They will use different means to obtain money from you, including: romance scams, where romance scammers  pretend that you are, in a developing relationship with them; eventually they will start asking for money and prey upon your emotions, vulnerability and your trusting nature.
Scammers may also ring you to say that you have won a lottery or won x amount of money aswell and they need x amount from you (usually in ‘gift cards’ or ‘bitcoin’), to pay for the tax; to release the winnings to you. Don’t be fooled. 

Q. What can I do to protect myself from scammers here on this WhatsApp group and also the website?

Here are our suggestions:

Don’t give/ send any monetary value: either cash or electronic funds to someone, that you don’t know or haven’t met in person.

Charity Giving:

Again, don’t give bank, credit/ debit card details to someone you don’t know. Use a encrpyted secure payment gateway facility such as PayPal, Stripe, or a third party that is regulated around the world; and make sure that it’s a genuine website for that charity. If in doubt stop, think and do some research. If you do feel led to give; only give what you can realistically afford to ‘lose.’ Never give to people who pressurising you or come across with a sense of urgency. 

Unexpected calls or messages:

If someone does contact you directly and message you; then one of the things you can do, is to have a video call with them and also take a screenshot of the person if you can. Normally, scammers like to hide their faces and point the camera down to the floor or ceiling, cover the camera so they can’t be seen; or indeed, cover their faces. Although, you might have a video call with them and see them, it doesn’t guarantee that they are not scammers. At least you know what they look like and provide evidence. If they start asking for money for some reason, within a few days/ weeks, then please report to admin; and also block and delete them from your phone.

Also, if someone rings you suddenly that you don’t know, or you hear an automated message, don’t respond and then disconnect the other caller. Immediately, block the caller. A genuine caller will tell you who they are and what company they are connected with. Even if you are not sure; put the phone down and find the official number of the company and call them back.

If you suspect a company/ or individual calls you on the phone and reports to be from Microsoft Support, Windows Support, Geek squad, Amazon/ support, or any Norton antivirus tech support; please do not answer: put the phone down. These companies will not ring you. It is most likely a scammer.

Be safe on your computer device:

Likewise, if you get window popups on your device with information to say that you have a virus / or that your files will be removed/ erased also under that, or indeed in addition around that message, will be a number to ring; Please do not call it. No antivirus company will ever ring you. Please shutdown and re-start your computer. If you continue getting unwanted messages and popups like this; disconnect from the internet; then take your device to a tech centre and let someone professional look at it to remove unwanted software and/ or viruses.

Installing software:

Don’t let anyone trick you to install ‘Anydesk’, ‘Team-viewer’ or any other remote software on your device via the internet that connects to another pc/ laptop, tablet or mobile phone or let someone else control your device, without your authorisation. Installing this software will let scammers control your pc and then they will have access to your bank account, email. etc.

Gift Vouchers

If anyone (that you don’t know personally) asks you buy scratch card gift vouchers, such as GooglePlay, Amazon store , Facebook or any other game vouchers which you can find in your local high street store please, do not purchase.

If you suspect that you are a victim of a scam: Write down and gather as much evidence as you can. Make recordings, inform a family member and report any scams to your local police authority.

Be wise, there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Be very vigilant!

Also as a final note:

Please be mindful and be careful, what you write in the public group aswell; as your messages will be read by people throughout the world; only post messages that you don’t mind others reading.

Composed by Pete (Admin) with help from Bro Emmanuel

Admin Team: 
Rebecca, Pete, Daniel, Francisca, and Marian Joy.

Thank you for submitting your creative media publications and completing our form.
We just need to review them first and we’ll definetly look forward to publishing it.

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you when your article/s will be published.

There are a number of ways to contact with us; the easiest is to complete the form to your right and we’ll try to respond as soon as someone is available. 

This course will coming soon.
We’re really busy preparing this content, especially for you.

It won’t be long now!!

Thank you for submission and completing our form.

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you as soon as they are available.

Thank you for reporting a potential scam on our platforms and bringing it to out attention. We’ll certainly look into it and contact the member/s involved and either: contact; warn; or temporarily or permanently block offenders. Repeat offenders will be removed/ blocked without notice. We realise that scams happen in the real world; we can try to minimise the risk by informing our members from time to time in the group and provide information what scams to look out for and to be cautious.

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you as soon as they are available.

Thank you for prayer submission and completing our form.

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you as soon as they are available.

Thank you for submitting your testimony submission and completing our form.
We just need to review it first and we’ll definetly look forward to publishing it as soon as we can.

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you when your article/s will be published.

Thank you for reporting a member for potentially mis-using our services. We’ll look into this for you and contact the member/s involved and see what is happening.

Please be aware that many members are spread world wide and English is not their natural language and may have to use translators. Sometimes these translators (although not perfect) may also mis-translate and may cause mis-understanding which you may think , will cause offense etc. So do try to be patient and understanding when this happens.  

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you as soon as they are available to let you know of the outcome.

Thank you for submitting your ideas and completing our form.

If you have left your email then someone from the admin team will contact you as soon as they are available.

There are a number of ways to contact with us; the easiest is to complete the form to your right and we’ll try to respond as soon as someone is available.