TUNDE OYEDOYIN
Tunde Oyedoyin is a London-based personal finance coach and founder of Money Intelligence Coaching Academy, a specialist academy of personal finance. He can be reached as follows: +447846089587 (WhatsApp only); E-mail: tu5oyed@gmail.com
Among the pieces that I penned last year was one titled “Do not outsource your bit of due diligence.” You won’t be worse off taking a glance at it again.
Tell you what? The plight of a naive Colorado congregation, whose ‘charismatic’ pastor sold investments with “divine guarantees” made me think of a sequel to that piece.
So, here we are. The story, “God told pastor to trouser £1m in crypto scam” appeared in the London Metro Newspaper of Monday, January 29, (p.9).
According to the paper, “a pastor who made $1.3 million (£1 million) selling worthless cryptocurrency to his congregation” and then “spent their money on a luxury lifestyle has insisted he was doing what God told him.”
Well, Pastor Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn, have been dragged to court as a result of the INDX coin they created and then marketed through another business outlet of theirs, Kingdom Wealth Exchange.
This was despite lacking the experience to do business in the sector. The paper disclosed further that the man of God and madam then “raised $3.2 million from 300 people.” Having raked in the money, they hit the road, shopping. They went on to buy “items including a Range Rover and snowmobile.”
Hear what this fake man of God then said in a video message: “So the charges are that Kaitlyn and I pocketed $1.3 million …those charges are true.” He went further to say: “Half a million went to the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] and a few hundred went to a home remodel the Lord told us to do.”
Guess what? Pastor Regalado said: “He took God at his word,” by selling a cryptocurrency without a clear exit strategy. Unfortunately, three hundred heaven bound people took him too at his word.
Little wonder that Colorado securities commissioner, Tung Chan said the pastor simply: “Took advantage of the trust and faith of his own Christian community.”
But here’s the thing. Unless you’re dealing with organisations or people with a track record of zero tolerance for deception and deceit, please never make the mistake of just taking people’s word for it when it comes to your personal finance. As a ground rule, do your checks or pay someone to do it for you.
It doesn’t matter whether the person asking you to come invest stands on a pulpit or by the roadside, don’t forget to not outsource your bit of due diligence.
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