Fraud: newest scam targets church members

Friday, August 9, 2019

A particularly insidious scam has hit at least one local church. The following email was sent to several church members, apparently coming from one of the ministers, and signed by the minister.

Good to hear from you [First Name] . How are you? I need to get a steam (gift) card for a cancer patient that I promised her as birthday gift but I can’t do that right now. Can you help me get it from any store around you? I’ll make sure the money is refunded tomorrow . Let me know if you can help. God bless 

Churches make appeals from the pulpit, and in normal and official communications methods - newsletters, websites, Facebook page, flyers posted in the church, etc.

A seemingly personal email from the minister is something that should be verified before money changes hands.

This is a variation on the scams that tell you that your account has been locked and you need to follow the link provided to update. Instead of following the link, go directly to your account on the organization's website and check there.

In this case, you could simply call the church.



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