‘But not the Devil’ inside
Dr Asangba Tzudir
Blessing Prayer Center located at indisen village, Dimapur and established in 2021 caught the limelight not for anything related to spiritual rejuvenation or blessing but for all the wrong reasons and which has caught almost everyone who are aware of it by surprise. News has come to light that the owner of the Blessing Prayer center and her partner has been duping many people on the false pretext that if they ‘invest’, a certain amount of loan in proportion to their investment will be given to them @2% from what was called “missionary fund.” One of whom she duped and victimized made the confession to Global window during an interview that she posed herself as a missionary, and her prayer center was just near her house. That, she wanted to help the poor people by giving loans to those who do not have any service, and that the loan amount was dependent on their investment – 1 Lakh loan @2% for 10,000 investment to 5 Lakhs for an investment of 50,000/-. This man ended up giving 50,000/- after borrowing from another person. The fraudster promised to give him the loan money within two weeks, but after the passage of two weeks came one excuse after the other that the ‘court’ has not accepted, please wait a while the court is yet to sign, but once ready they will deliver at their place which never happened. Then came one day, when he was asked to come to ‘court’ for the money, and like any fraudsters story it didn’t happen, instead he was made to wait for hours. She seems to have duped more than hundred people as per some of the interview respondents.
Stories of people being duped especially by online scammers are not new and happen every now and then. In the process many have opened their misery gates for life having been scammed and which mostly starts with the promise of high returns. The Blessing Prayer Center episode one of the latest in Nagaland also attests to bowing down to money. One would wonder whether any of the ‘investors’ tried with the first slab of 10,000? In a Christian dominated state, the fact that the fraudster operated under the ‘Blessing Prayer Center’ and as a missionary made her possible victims fall prey to her design easily.
Things which were once considered unimaginable and unthinkable, or which only happened in movies are now happening right in front of our eyes. The mechanization of beings only adds to the uncertainty of human actions and which can possibly take any form while leaving out the moral and religious considerations. Such things are going to happen and therefore call on the sense and sensibilities of beings. That, in the evolution of technology and the mechanisations of human beings, one can be easily victimized or even killed if there is any moment when one is caught off guard. Thus we need to be on guard all the time. Let it be reminded that identities of strangers and their credentials should be verified through thorough research, and most importantly personal info’s and finances should be kept private. Yes, we should trust everyone but not the devil inside.
In context, such incidences have also brought so much of shame on the entire Christian community, and while it is hoped that due justice will be delivered to the many victims, it also call on the individual moral selves to be very cautious especially while dealing with money, because money can have such a blinding effect which can make one so gullible often outweighed by the circumstances of life.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes guest editorials for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)