MacKenzie Scott Foundation Scam
Forewarned is Forearmed! So, be warned!
It started with a comment on my comment, which led me to write an unplanned article about generosity. Then it turned out that the person who introduced me to MacKenzie Scott (MS) and her work was a dodgy account that has since been removed. However…
That’s only the beginning of the story. Later on, I got reintroduced to MS by Lennex Tammy on Medium through comments on various articles. Lennex suggested that I join MS Foundation room on Telegram , which I did and it was fascinating. There were a bunch of amazing articles about her generosity. I was in awe. And then there was a message if I wished to enrol for help I had to click on the link.
I clicked. It opened a private message room. I sent a message.
Very soon I got an e-mail from a yahoo.com account that said:
The true measure of who I am and the ultimate fulfillment I can enjoy is based on how I share and distribute CASH GIFTS to the multitudes of our fellow human beings who live their lives struggling financially and almost without hope. Sharing my good fortune with others allows my legacy and purpose to become lasting and meaningful, making difference in the lives of those far less fortunate. In addition to my assets acquired over a lifetime, I have a disproportionate amount of money that I would like to share. I will approach the issue of charity very thoughtfully. It will take a lot of time, effort and energy, but I am not going to wait. I will be engaged in philanthropy until my safe is empty.
I have assigned a CASH GIFT of ($12million) dollars each to the above listed organisations has been rigorously selected.
And then a list of 14 organisations. We were on the list!
Can you imagine the joy? Oh my God, it took everything I had not to dream about what this would mean to my organisation, my people, my country… To me!
I sent them my details right away. They didn’t ask for anything that I wouldn’t share with any of you guys, so that was alright.
This morning I got a message from MS on Telegram that they’ve received information that I did not send a payment to the delivery company. I said that I didn’t receive any message asking for any payment (which is true). They said that someone will contact me by email and/or Whatsapp within 24h.
This was odd. I’ve been in the sector for over two decades, and I have never met a donor who asked for money. The assumption is that we have no money. And the assumption is 100% true. So no one who wants to help with finances will ever ask for money from us.
An hour or so later I got a message on Whatsapp from a 1 724 number.
He sent me a document, headline FedEx, and it stated the package details:
As you can see in the picture, I was to receive 4 packages, each containing $4 million dollars. That means $16 million dollars in total, NOT $12 million.
Who wouldn’t get suspicious?
Then they stated the price:
$21,300.00!!! Wow! Who has that kind of money? I don’t. And if they help people who can just pay this, who are they helping? Clearly not the sort of people who are in need. And less fortunate is a bit debatable because when a person has billions, less fortunate are those with only millions, so… But, to be honest, if I had a million, I would have taken this risk. What the heck, let’s see what happens. Or maybe not… I wouldn’t even bother with this, what am I talking about? Moving on.
I had to find out more, so I kept the conversation going as long as I could. Honestly, for a moment, even I thought “What if this is the real deal but they work in a way I’ve never seen?” And then they advised me to borrow money to pay the charge. I offered that they send it to a bank, I offered to pay it upon delivery, yet they suggest that I borrow? This was alarming. Would anyone be tempted? I wasn’t tempted, but even if I was, we cannot borrow. However, there are people who might go for it, might borrow depending on this being the real deal. They could lose everything.
The last message I got from them was: Are you refusing this?
So I replied that no one would ever refuse this, this is being denied to me because I can’t afford the delivery charge. I even added: Ironic, right?
They didn’t reply to that but they did send a general message that said:
Notice!!!
For all the beneficiaries that Is yet to receive their CASH GIFT, be informed that you have until 48 hours to receive your package, otherwise there will be termination of your grant.
Please ignore this message if you have already received your package.
Best regards.
I didn’t reply to this. But I do feel the need to let people know about it, and I hope MacKenzie will hear about it too. I think someone is abusing the situation. I love what MacKenzie is doing and the way she’s doing it. I don’t think I could admire her more. But I would suggest measures to prevent scammers from ripping people off. They wanted me to send them $21,300.00. If I didn’t know how the sector works and how donors never ask for money, maybe I would have been tempted to risk it all and see what happens. But what would happen? Lose the family home? I don’t even want to think about this.
Like many, many people out there, I wish I could be a recipient of this woman’s great generosity. And, for a moment, I wanted to believe in a miracle, believe that it was finally my turn to be lucky. So I do understand how a person can get swept away. But don’t! People who want to help will help. Nothing will stop them. In fact, if they learn that your situation is worse than they thought, they will work even harder to help. It makes them feel even better. So do NOT bother with those who ask you to send money first and then they’ll help. It just doesn’t work that way, and don’t try to find excuses like: Well, I should pay the delivery charge at least. No, you shouldn’t.
