Amish & Mennonites Victims of 4 Major Financial Schemes Since 2008

[Josh]

This would be a good area for good teaching, brotherhood accountability, submitting one’s self to another and not making big decisions without the input of leaders and brethren, and finally teaching and input and consultation from outside experts. Organisations like AF and Everence stand ready to help.

[Judas Maccabeus]

And a sure knowledge that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Not just a problem in Mennonite communities. Think Bernie Madoff, and the various pyramid plans that appear from time to time.

J.M.

[Admiral Acbon]

My church got suckered in by the A&M deal. I trust there are safeguards in place to prevent our making investments that risky again. We were still able to finish paying off on some land we bought, but it was a little tight.

[ohio jones]

Not just a problem in Mennonite communities.

Indeed, "affinity fraud" can be a problem in any setting where people tend to trust others who are (or appear to be) part of the group more than they trust outsiders.

Here's an example from the evangelical world of a smooth-talking fraudster taking advantage of family and church relationships for his personal benefit.

[appleman2006]

And a sure knowledge that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Not just a problem in Mennonite communities. Think Bernie Madoff, and the various pyramid plans that appear from time to time.

J.M.

I get especially upset when I hear of churches and charities being ripped off in this way. It takes a special kind of low to do that to a church community but added to that I am amazed that a church would not have a better system in place to guard against this type of thing,

There are legitimate reasons why a church may have some money sitting around at times but surely there is a safe place to park it for a time until it is needed for what ever it's intended purpose is for. I would even suggest another sister church as an interest free loan before putting into a privately held scheme of any kind. But I understand some of these schemes are pretty convincing.

[Hats Off]

We are known to be too trusting. That combined with a little bit of greed? makes us attractive prey.

[knotdust]

I have acquaintances who lost a considerable amount in the A & M failure some in the 10's of thousands of dollars.

High returns bring high risk is what my investment adviser always counselled and I listened. We talked about some of these kinds of investments and he always cautioned against it. Wise counsel for sure.

My investments have been in mutual funds which reflect my values as a believer and an Anabaptist. They have done amazingly well. Not as high as returns in some of these questionable investments for sure but still in double digits for years. True I lost some value in the 2008 downturn but never lost my original investment.

I stay far away from the snake oil types of investment schemes. They don't even get a hearing with me. I had a couple friends who wanted me to get involved with what sounded like a pyramid plan of some type and I refused. Not what I want to do with my funds that God has allowed me to be a steward of.

[Biblical Anabaptist]

One simple word - GREED. Why else would a person mortgage their house to the max to invest in one of these scams?

Following the Bible way of borrowing and lending will avoid almost all of this.

[Josh]

Once some younger (Plain) friends of mine got involved with some deal selling expensive energy drinks. I guess the meeting went well enough that eventually they got the founder on the phone for the final hard push.

He then proceeded to tell me that wages are slavery and the only way to not end up in grinding poverty is to own my own business, and then talked about all the down lines who have so many residuals he leases them a BMW. ($600 a month basically.) He also had a Mennonite-focused sales pitch on how important it is to be able to provide for your family and leave them a big thriving business.

I responded that poverty isn’t that bad since Jesus loved the poor, and that too much wealth can be a snare, and then shared my testimony of how I made good money but was very empty before I became a Christian. After I got born again, I changed careers to a construction laborer, but my soul was in much better shape.

The rest of the call was awkward, as the young folks now like to say.

[appleman2006]

One simple word - GREED. Why else would a person mortgage their house to the max to invest in one of these scams?

Following the Bible way of borrowing and lending will avoid almost all of this.

for sure sometimes just plain greed. But in all fairness I think at times it is also ignorance or desperation that play a role as well. Trying to be charitable here.