Five Biblical Proverbs to Keep You From Getting Scammed

Back in the early days of the Internet, avoiding scams was a pretty straightforward process. The received wisdom of the time essentially boiled down to: “If a fabulously wealthy Nigerian prince offers you incredible financial compensation in exchange for sending him the small down payment he needs in order to access his rightful fortune . . . maybe don’t do that.”

In those days, the bigger risk was clicking a harmless-looking link and finding yourself watching the music video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”—again.

But times have changed, and there are fates worse than getting Rickrolled. Bad actors are making use of emails, texts, phone calls, web pages and videos while posing as government agencies, courier services, friends and loved ones. As artificial intelligence advancements continue to roll out, they’re able to churn out these deceptions faster and more convincingly in the hopes that you’ll hand over sensitive information they can use for their own profit.

The real trouble is that times keep changing, and quickly. Even if we laid out a detailed, step-by-step guide on avoiding some of the biggest scams out there, it would be obsolete by the end of the year (or maybe the end of the month, depending on how things go).

If you’re looking for specific steps you can take to avoid scams, you can find helpful guides from institutions like the BBB, AARP and the FTC. But instead of talking about specific strategies, this article will focus on principles—principles far, far older than the Internet and even modern civilization itself.

Following the wisdom of these five biblical proverbs won’t guarantee you never get scammed, but it will help you sidestep a lot of dangerous territory.

1. Take a closer look at the claims

There’s one thing all effective scams have in common:

They’re convincing.

Before you can fall for a scam, you have to believe the scam—which means the most successful scammers are going to put in extra effort to make sure their traps look and sound believable, whether that involves posing as someone you know or promising some kind of reward.

“The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17).

Don’t let someone pressure (or threaten!) you into making a big decision quickly. A lot of scams will appear legitimate until you start to look closely and ask yourself questions. Why would this person need this information? What could a bad actor do with the information I’m about to hand over? Why contact me, specifically? Is this how things are normally done? Why am I being asked to call a number in Nigeria when the number on the back of my credit card is in the United States?

Look for loose threads and don’t be afraid to tug on them. In most cases it is better not to engage at all. But if you feel you must reply, ask follow-up questions and be wary of answers that don’t quite make sense.

2. Ask for advice from those you trust

No one knows everything. When you recognize you’re dealing with a system or a situation you don’t quite understand, ask for help.

“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

It’s easy to get in over our heads and make unwise decisions when we can’t make sense of the playing field. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed to seek out the advice of someone who can walk you through situations you’re unfamiliar with (and who can answer the questions our first proverb prompted). If you don’t understand what’s being asked of you and why it’s being asked of you, find someone you trust who does.

This proverb is true even after you’ve fallen for a scam. It’s easy to feel embarrassed, but even trained security professionals can click the wrong link sometimes. A wise counselor might be able to help you with damage control or next steps.

3. Avoid snap decisions

Scammers like to make you feel as if your window of opportunity is closing fast. If you don’t act right now, your package will be lost, your bank account will be closed, your profit margins will shrink, your computer will be infected—whatever the issue, you’ll lose out in a big way unless you do something fast.

Very few issues in life are actually like that. But by tapping into our psychological fear of missing out (whether of obtaining a benefit or avoiding a negative consequence) and pressuring us to act quickly, scammers can push us to forgo careful reasoning.

By way of contrast, the Bible warns us, “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly” (Proverbs 14:17). Committing to any decision without weighing the possible outcomes can often land us in all sorts of trouble, which is why we’re told that “the simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps” (verse 15).

Don’t let someone pressure (or threaten!) you into making a big decision quickly. Make sure you take the time to employ the first two proverbs we looked at—carefully evaluating the claims involved and seeking advice from people you trust. Better to consider your steps before you take them than to look back on them with regret!

4. Be wary of shortcuts

There are absolutely effective, valuable shortcuts in life that can save you from wasting a lot of time and effort. But there are also a lot of dangerous dead ends disguised to look like shortcuts.

Be wary of someone offering to show you a quick-and-easy shortcut . . . for a price. Even in our high-tech world, there’s still something to the old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Here’s how Proverbs puts it: “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 28:20). Faithful, diligent work often feels like taking the long way to a goal, but it lays a far more enduring foundation than rushing from one get-rich scheme to the next. Even when a shortcut looks plausible, consider what it proposes to bypass—and whether that’s something God wants you to bypass.

(Emotions can play a big role in scams too. When we really want what’s being offered to us, it’s a lot easier to overlook some red flags. In 2024 alone, Americans reported losing nearly $700 million to romance scams, with an impostor posing as a potential romantic partner in need of financial assistance.)

Scammers love to offer incredible returns for minimal contributions (I’m looking at you, Nigerian prince emails). Once they’ve gotten away with your money or your information, that’s when it becomes obvious that the shortcut was a dead end all along.

5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

“Sure things” often . . . aren’t.

Whenever a positive outcome is billed as a foregone conclusion in the world of finance, it’s time to get skeptical. As much as many of us would love a machine that just turns money into more money, it’s never that simple.

But scammers sure would like to convince you it is that simple. The more you feel comfortable handing over money (or information)—because you’re sure you’ll get more in return—the more they can run off with.

The book of Ecclesiastes advises us, “Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth” (Ecclesiastes 11:2). That might not offer an obvious insight into avoiding scams, but one way to interpret it is as a warning not to put all your eggs in one basket.

The NET Bible interprets Ecclesiastes 11:2 this way: “Divide your merchandise among seven or even eight investments, for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth.”

This requires you to make sure you keep back enough to feed yourself. In other words—don’t commit funds you can’t afford to lose, because loss is always a possibility. More than that, never tie your success to one single venture, because if that fails, you’ve lost everything.

If someone tries to sell you a can’t-miss, slam-dunk, sure-to-win financial opportunity, assume they’re trying to deceive you (or else are deceived themselves). No one knows what calamity may happen on the earth, and there’s wisdom in spreading your finances out instead of gambling it all on one possible outcome.

Why are these proverbs still relevant?

The Bible was written long before anyone had to deal with emails from bad actors posing as foreign dignitaries in need of a little help, the IRS preparing to garnish your wages, investment opportunities with guaranteed results, the postal service preparing to reroute your package or the credit card company asking for your password to decline a suspicious charge—and yet it still has a lot of advice useful for navigating those situations.

Why? Because times have changed, but people haven’t. Underneath the modern veneer, it’s still the same old kinds of people trying to pull off the same old kinds of deception. Attuning ourselves to the godly principles found in biblical proverbs can keep us from falling for most of those tricks—or at the very least, help us learn to navigate our way out when we do.

For more financial insights, check out our articles “How to Deal With Financial Problems,” “What Does the Bible Say About Gambling?” and “Hard Work.”