E-mail from the FDIC
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Straight to the Cross
GUEST ARTICLE
E-mail from the FDIC
by Warren Baldwin
Many Americans have recently received an Email
from the prestigious Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, known as the FDIC. Or have they
really?
The fraudulent e-mail claims to be from the FDIC
and informs recipients that their bank account has
been denied insurance as a result of an
investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security. David Barr, a spokesman for the FDIC,
said that the letter is mostly free of the
grammatical and spelling mistakes that usually act
as a sign that the message is not genuine. The
scheme is only the latest attempt to get personal
and financial information through fraud, a
criminal activity known as "phishing."
The letter states that unless recipients confirm
their personal information by going to what looks
like an FDIC web site, their account will lose its
protection. The address bar in Internet Explorer
displays "www.fdic.gov," while the actual Web site
is at a different address in Pakistan.
If there is a way to cheat someone, someone will
think of it.
I thought this information would be good to share
with you because, for one thing, you might get
that e-mail! I don't want any of you to have your
personal and financial records nosed through by
some criminal, and possibly have money diverted
from your account to theirs. (That is still known
as "stealing.")
Second, this story reminds me of how EASY it is
for us to be deceived by "wolves in sheep's
clothing." An e-mail from a "concerned" source
wants to help protect us from financial and
personal predators, yet the "concerned" source is
the actual predator! And since they work out of or
through Pakistan, we can't even track down or
identify who the predators are!
Sadly, there are other predators like these, only
more sinister and devious.
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious
wolves" (Matt. 7:15).
"There were also false prophets among the people,
just as there will be false teachers among you.
They will secretly introduce destructive heresies,
even denying the sovereign Lord" (2 Pet. 1:11).
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking
for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm
in the faith" (1 Pet. 5:8,9a).
The work of these spiritual predators may take
several tacks:
- to get us away from the sound doctrine of the
Bible.
- divert our attention from the eternal God to
some lesser god.
- get is to settle for the deceiving pleasures
that last only a season.
- fill us with pride and arrogance.
- lead us to never think of eternity. What matters
is "right now."
I've seen spiritual bank accounts robbed by
predators gaining access to a Christian's heart.
Hope lost. Faith lost. Salvation lost.
But the good news is ... it doesn't have to
happen. Heed the warning: "Submit yourselves,
then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you" (Jas 4:7).
God PROMISES VICTORY to those who remember the
source of the true life... God himself.
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Also read, "How to Recognize Spam"
forthright.antville.org/stories/441767/
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