BE ALERT FOR INTERNET SCAMMERS!
April 11, 2021
They're back.....!
SCAMMERS ARE INCESSANT IN USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO ABUSE THE GOOD-HEARTEDNESS OF PARISHIONERS
Please be wary of the clergy SCAMS that have become so popular in the last number of years throughout the western world. The scammers (i.e. cruel thieves) are becoming more clever and are willing to try over and over again. They do their research and they manage to piece together plausible information and interpersonal connections. It really isn't that complicated. Go to any parish website or bulletin and you have access to the parish priest's contact information as well as that same information for several parishioners.* Fake a message from "the pastor" to one of the parishioners and there is a slight chance that a kind, generous parishioner will want to help out...
They read the bulletin and find out who is ill and in hospital or when the priest will be away on holidays. So, when the "priest" contacts you and says that he is stuck far away from home and needs a bit of cash and he will pay you when he gets back.... many people would want to help. Not?
But, the general rule is DON'T! Just don't - until you can VERIFY the request. Very few situations - if any - are so urgent that they require a couple hundred $ to be sent from a good parishioner. (For real emergencies one calls 911).
