A Psychotherapist Is a Good Scam Victim

It’s hard to believe how the most rational people can be pulled into a scam. An article in The New Yorker in 2006 shows that this is not true. John Worley was a decorated Vietnam veteran, an ordained minister, and a Christian psychotherapist. He had even developed a psychological profiling tool to help determine his clients’ makeups, desires, and needs. He also told people that Satan would try to destroy them at every point in their lives. You would think he would be too cautious to be pulled into a scam. But underneath his idealism he had the same kind of greed as many others do.

One day he got an email addressed to CEO/Owner. The writer needed his help to transfer money out of South Africa into the U.S. for investment. That person claimed to have been secretly sent by the Congolese president to South Africa to buy arms. But the president was assassinated before he could complete the mission. The writer had decided to take the money and needed a partner with a bank account who could receive it on his behalf. If Worley helped him he would share 30% of the proceeds. Does this sound like a real opportunity to you? So why did a principled minister get involved? Maybe he thought he would use the money for his congregation. Or that was what he told himself at first.

In any case, it was a classic Nigerian scam called an advance-fee fraud. Hundreds of emails like what Worley received go out every day to potential victims. Don’t we all dream of getting rich? But there are always a few roadblocks that need just a little money to resolve—legal issues, government fees, and later, bribes. The stories scammers tell their victims are always quite convincing, but underneath they appeal to both greed and idealism: get rich helping someone in need. In Worley’s case, he also attributed the opportunity to God’s will. Did God want to make him wealthy because he was such a good man?

But Worley was cautious and refused to travel to South Africa (where some of victims have been kidnapped and held for ransom). He affirmed to the person needing his help that he lived his life with integrity. He had saved money for retirement and for grandchildren’s college costs. I wonder if he was trying to convince himself that he was still a good man even though he was taking  money that belonged to the Congolese government. The stranger on the other end of the fraud said he completely understood. He would send Worley a check to cover his expenses. Who wouldn’t start to believe the scheme was possible when they received a check for $50K? And who wouldn’t believe that something was wrong about the whole thing? Worley deposited the check. But when he called the bank it was drawn on, he learned that the check was a fake. End of story? Unfortunately not.

The first scam faded away, but Worley kept receiving more emails. Someone had stolen billions from the Nigerian treasury and needed to move the money. A general’s widow desperately needed funds she was entitled to. He must have had his doubts about these “opportunities” because Worley apparently never revealed what he was doing to his family. He kept wiring funds to resolve small impediments that blocked him from getting the money. In all, he ended up spending about $80K on fees, attorney costs, and bribes. Yes, bribes. Apparently his integrity fell victim to his determination to get rich.

Here are some of the things he did. He opened an account at a bank in Bermuda so the funds could be transferred without anyone paying taxes. He made a false claim to be a private aviation contractor because that was supposed to give him access to the money. He not only used all his family savings but borrowed thousands of dollars from one of his patients. But he said he was conflicted and prayed for God to forgive him for his pursuit of money. These ruses and delusions lead me to wonder how much of his ministry and psychological services were really a sham.

The final scam that led to his downfall appeared quite safe. He received checks for more than $500K. He deposited them and called the banks they were drawn on to make sure they were legitimate. The checks were actually real but altered to make him the beneficiary. The banks evidently told him that the checks were good. Then the Nigerians had him transfer the funds out to other offshore accounts. Weeks later the banks the checks were drawn on discovered that they were fraudulent. What he didn’t know was that U.S. law held him responsible if he suspected that the checks were fakes.

Worley was charged with fraud, possessing counterfeit checks, and money laundering. His attorney said that he’d been scammed, but the prosecuting attorney accused him of willful blindness. How could he say he was honestly helping someone when he was paying money for bribes, had seen that his partners were liars, had borrowed from a patient, lied to his wife, and plotted to avoid taxes? Did this man have the integrity he claimed to have? It seemed more like greed.

He was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison and obligated to provide restitution of about $600K. When the reporter who wrote the article contacted him, he still thought that the fraudsters were real and that they would eventually give him his money. I wonder if his whole self-concept of being an upright man depended on this willingness to believe this delusion.

Americans seem to be the best marks for these scams. the writer in the New Yorker theorizes that this is because we so strongly believe America is a land of opportunity, and that taking risks is how you become rich. As the mark is sucked into the scam, they invest their reputation and beliefs on the outcome until they can’t bear to pull back. The bigger the ego, the more determined the victim is not to be proven a fool. Religious conviction only makes the mark more gullible and stubborn.

So what about law enforcement? Most victims are too embarrassed to report their losses. Even if they do, finding the perpetrators in Nigeria is an impossible task.

I once almost caused my son to become a victim to the scams. I got an email about an opportunity to buy goods on behalf of a third party. I was then supposed to send on the packages to a third party. I was too naive to think of this as a scam and my son was searching for a job. I suggested he check it out. I don’t know what the underlying scam was. It could have been money laundering, or it could have been the fake check scam that Worley fell victim to. Fortunately my son checked it out and never went beyond one phone call.

If you are interested in more detail about Worley’s case, look up the New Yorker article of May 15, 2006 by Mitchell Zuckoff.