Comment on Should this be in unethical life pro tips
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 5 months agoAs the other commenter mentioned, things could get violent. Being wrong about a prediction means that the leaders look as dumb as the followers, but saying outright that you scammed the followers means you deliberately made them look stupid.
But even if they aren’t mysteriously angry about it, it’s still illegal. I wonder if the prosecutors going after Trump plan on going after him again from that angle once they prove his election steal claims were fraud because he used those claims to solicit donations.
AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 5 months ago
If it was illegal to scam people in the name of religion the world would be a much better place…
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It’s not the legal status (fraud is already illegal), it’s proving that it is indeed a scam rather than some dumb shit they actually believed, as well as knowing that it’s more likely to trigger a persecution complex and doubling down than improve the lives of the victims (because if it’s a plot to harm their religion, they don’t have to feel like idiots for giving the scammer money).
It’s a different story if the religious scammer openly admits that it was always a scam and just doesn’t care what anyone thought of it. Easier to prove and the victims are already angry and feeling like idiots for falling for it.