Beloved Stewards,
Please note that I WOULD NEVER reach out via a personal e-mail or text to request immediate financial assistance!
If you have or ever received such a message from anyone -
please DO NOT:
1. Reply to the message
2. Click on any links
3. Download any attachments
4. Use the contact information provided in the e-mail
5. Share personal or financial data via e-mail or phone
Vigilance requires that we question every e-mail that comes into our In-Box. If something appears suspicious, please verify the e-mail by contacting the Church Office. And remember to change your passwords often to keep your devices safe.
I am including an article below on this subject written by Jamil Samara the Director of the Department of Internet Ministries at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
No, Your Priest Does Not Want You To Buy Gift Cards
for a Parishioner in Need
by Jamil Samara
Stop! I need your attention for a moment.
Cyber crime has been infiltrating our lives and our homes for years. It is now knocking at the door of our parishes.
Parishes and religious communities are being targeted by a phishing scam where the attacker poses falsely as the priest and asks the recipient for money. It often begins like this. An email arrives in an unsuspecting person's inbox from an email address that is similar to but different than the priest's email address, something like [email protected] (notice the typo!) or [email protected]. The email might read something like:
Have you got a minute? I need you to complete a task for me discreetly.
P.S: I'm going into a meeting now and can't talk, so just reply.
The parishioner then might respond saying that he's willing to help. If your priest asked you to help him with something, of course you would say yes, right? The attacker is leveraging the trust that exists in parish communities between the priest and the parishioner. He then replies:
Okay good. I need you to get me some gift cards, I have a few people I want to send gifts to. [Or I need to assist someone in need right now]. Let me know if it's possible for you to do get them right now so I can tell you which product we would need and the amount, you will be reimbursed.
Does it sound suspicious? Yes! Is it possible this is legitimate? Absolutely not! I can guarantee that your priest will never ask you to do something like this. If you receive something out of the ordinary, be sure to ask! Call your priest or the church office to find out more. Or contact us (see below)!
So, the scam continues like this:
What I need is a gift card of $400 face value (200 x 2). You'll get the physical cards at the store, scratch the back out and send me the pictures of the back of the cards revealing the pin here, you can keep the physical cards for me.
Once the parishioner sends the photos of the cards to the attacker, the money has now been transferred to their control. Some parishioners across the Archdiocese have already been tricked into giving away hundreds of dollars!
What Can We Do About this?
The most important thing that can be done is education. Educate yourself about emails and phone scams like this.
A clergyman will never reach out to his parishioners via email to request financial assistance, or in this case, gift cards. If email requests ever seems questionable, first and foremost, do not reply to the message, click on any links, or download any attachments. Try to verify the email by contacting the person or business directly via phone. Do not use contact information provided in an email or a website connected to the request; instead, check your personal records or contact lists, or for a business, a previous statement or bill, for contact information.
Check out the links below for more information.
How to Report a Cyber Crime
If you have become victims of a cyber crime, be sure to report it immediately to us and the following Federal agencies:
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