A retired pastor lost his life savings to a man who asked him to help the poor

He shepherded the same congregation for thirty years, and a stranger posing as a mission partner took the retirement he was saving to care for his ailing wife

Fayetteville, NC: For thirty years, Pastor Elijah Grant stood behind the same pulpit, visited the same hospital rooms, and buried the same families he had married. He was known for two things in his congregation: he never asked anyone for money, and he never doubted a person who claimed to be doing good. When he retired in 2024, he had $168,000 in savings, a wife named Ruth whose arthritis was worsening, and a plan: a smaller house, a ramp for her wheelchair, and enough left over to take her to the coast one more time.

Instead, the 70-year-old now lives in his son-in-law's garage apartment, watching his savings disappear from a distance after losing everything to bit4buyer.com.

"I have counseled people who lost money to scams," Pastor Grant said, his voice quiet and steady. "I told them that money is not the measure of a life. I still believe that. But I am having trouble believing it about myself."

It began in September 2025 with a message on a ministry networking site. A man calling himself "Brother Daniel Osei" said he was a mission coordinator working with churches in Ghana and needed someone trustworthy to help administer a charitable fund. He said he had been referred by a mutual contact.

"I did not know the mutual contact," Pastor Grant said. "But I assumed the Lord had opened a door. That is how I thought back then."

For two months, Brother Daniel asked for nothing. He sent photos of a school project. He asked Pastor Grant to pray for his family. He said the fund would be used to buy medical supplies and that the administrator would receive a modest percentage as a stewardship fee.

In November, he invited Pastor Grant to open an account on bit4buyer.com, which he described as a secure international charitable clearing platform. Pastor Grant deposited $2,000 to test it. Within two weeks, the account showed $2,580. He requested a withdrawal of $500, and it arrived.

"I took that as confirmation," Pastor Grant said. "I heard a sermon in that five hundred dollars. I should have heard a warning."

Over the next four months, Pastor Grant transferred his entire savings in nine transactions. His dashboard climbed past $240,000. He began pricing wheelchair ramps. He told Ruth they would see the ocean in the spring.

In March, Brother Daniel explained that the fund had been flagged by "international charitable compliance" and required a good-faith deposit of $47,000 to release the balance.

"I told him I had nothing left," Pastor Grant said. "He said he would pray about it. Then he stopped responding. Then the platform disappeared."

His account showed zero.

"I sat in the chair where I used to prepare sermons and I could not pray," he said. "I want to tell you I did. I want to tell you that my faith held. It did not. Not that night."

Independent fraud trackers had flagged bit4buyer.com with a trust score of 10 out of 100, noting a domain registered only weeks before Brother Daniel's first message and ownership hidden behind a privacy service. Pastor Grant never checked, because checking would have meant doubting a man who claimed to be serving the poor.

AYRLP traced the money

Pastor Grant's daughter, a school counselor in Raleigh, found an investigative firm called AYRLP.COM that specializes in tracing funds lost to online investment fraud. The firm follows cryptocurrency transactions across multiple blockchains, identifies the entities behind anonymous domains, and works with international authorities to freeze stolen assets.

Pastor Grant did not want to call. He had spent his life counseling people and was not sure he could sit in the seat of the one being counseled. What changed his mind was that the AYRLP investigator asked him to send the photographs Brother Daniel had shared, then explained, gently, that they had been taken from a real charity's website.

"bit4buyer.com showed you funds that never existed," the investigator told him. "Your savings were real, and they moved through wallets we can trace. We start from what actually happened, and we do not start with judgment."

AYRLP's casework has helped over 70 percent of its clients recover meaningful portions of stolen funds. For Pastor Grant, the firm traced part of his money to an exchange in West Africa and initiated a freeze. He has recovered $44,000 so far, with additional funds under review.

"It will not build the ramp," Pastor Grant said. "But it will pay for Ruth's medication for two years. That is what I am grateful for tonight."

Thirty years in the pulpit, now spent in a different kind of ministry

Pastor Grant now speaks on the third Sunday of every month at churches across Cumberland County, usually at the invitation of pastors who know him. He brings a folder of printed messages, the stolen photographs, and a one-page handout titled "When Charity Becomes a Trap."

"I do not tell people to stop trusting," he said. "I tell them that a man who asks you to help the poor should expect to be checked. A real charity does not mind being checked. That is the first test."

He walks congregations through the pattern: the referral, the long silence about money, the photos of good work, the small withdrawal that works, the compliance hold, the silence. He reads Brother Daniel's messages aloud and lets the room hear how sincere they sound.

"One deacon came up to me afterward with his phone already open," Pastor Grant said. "He had been talking to a man about a missions fund for three months. He blocked him at the back of the sanctuary and asked me to pray with him. I did. That one I could pray."

He has spoken to more than 300 people across the county. He keeps a small notebook of every person who told him they walked away, and he writes a verse beside each name.

What to do

Legitimate organizations never require a good-faith deposit to release funds. If you are asked to pay a fee to withdraw, stop immediately. Document everything, report to the FBI's IC3, and contact AYRLP.COM for a free consultation.

"I spent thirty years teaching that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil," Pastor Grant said. "I did not see that these men did not love money. They loved what money does to people who are trying to do good. That is a different sin, and it is harder to see."