Divine Project from God Scam

Churches receive many emails requesting funds to support a multitude of Christian missions so here for a change a chance to do good and help realise a dying woman's final wish. A variation of the Terminally Ill Benefactor scam in that an intermediary is introduced at the outset and both the characters appear to be in a Libyan prison for their faith. Is this Divine project from God likely to be God inspired or is it a scam attempt from persons who are neither in a Libyan prison or terminally ill? Read on...

E-Mail received:

Date: 24/02/2026, 19:10

From: Rev. Mark Gelkirchen rosemarycher02@outlook.com

Reply to: markgelkirchen@gmail.com markgelkirchen@gmail.com

To: [Email address redacted]

Subject: God Has Chosen You For This Divine Project From Rev. Mark Gelkirchen.

Greetings to you my dearest one in the Lord. I pray this message finds you with the peace of the Almighty God.

My name is Rev. Mark Gelkirchen, a 63‑year‑old missionary from the Philippines origin, but was born and raised in the United States of America. I am currently in Libya, serving by preaching the Gospel and helping the less privileged. Sadly and unfortunately, I am presently in a prison detention, because I have recently been judged and sentenced to one year imprisonment for importing Bibles and converting people to Christianity, not knowing it's illegal to import the Bibles here or anything related to Christianity. Though I have taken the persecution for the sake of our Lord Jesus.

While I am here in the prison, I met a woman called Madam Saafiah Sakizli, an 89‑year‑old widow who was also sentenced to life imprisonment after the death of her husband, Engr. Nabil El‑Keib Sakizli. He was the Chief Executive Director of an oil and gas company and a philanthropist, but he was killed by the Libyan government during the era of Muammar Gaddafi. Madam Saafiah is now terminally ill with cancer and has no family, as she and her late husband never had a child. Now Madam Saafiah wishes to donate her husband’s fortune of USD 3.9 million dollars, deposited in a bank in Turkey for charitable works, taking care of the less privileged in the society and the services of God.

During our conversations, she asked me to help her to find a trustworthy and God‑fearing person who will receive and manage this donation according to her wishes, not minding your faith or religion. Because of my imprisonment, I cannot handle this divine project myself, so I made a vow and promised her I would help to seek someone reliable and can be trusted. If you are willing and capable of using these funds for charity and the work of God, please let me know, so that I can present you to Madam Saafiah Sakizli.

I will be looking forward to your honest and positive response and please for confidential purposes, kindly reply to me through this my private email address:: markgelkirchen@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Rev. Mark Gelkirchen.

Notes: If true this would be a sad, sad tale. A clear reciting of a fairy tale being spun to the recipients of this email. The unjust imprisonment of the missionary and Madam Safiah, the fortune just sitting in a bank doing nothing and her philanthropic wishes of both her and her late husband to do good in charitable works and more importantly the work of God. How can you refuse to get involved? But refuse it is a well used and no doubt profitable scam for the scammers.

Note the reply to email address is different from the sender email address. This is a technique to maintain lines of communication if the sender email account is closed by google for fraudulent activities the other email may remain active.

Further reading: Terminally Ill Benefactor Scam similar scam from Germany

Recommendation: Ignore and delete the email

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Divine Project from God Scam

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