SCAM WARNING
Some nefarious international con artists are establishing and using email accounts, such as G-Mail,
in the name of some of our priests and, most recently, in the name of our bishop. They are doing this to illicitly solicit gift cards, money or information.
Kindly consider this as a scam and do not respond under any circumstances.
Our diocesan IT staff is working to address this invasion of privacy and the attempted fraud against the goodness of our parish communities.
To ensure your protection, if you receive a request from one of our priests or our bishop, please verify it is not a scam by speaking directly to them, or their appropriate staff, through known phone numbers and known email addresses. Please, never reply to such an email directly, nor call any numbers provided in such an email directly.
Below is are examples of these types of scams. NOTE: There other are variations:
Example 1:
Date:
Friday, March 8, 2019 4:28 PM
To: XXXXX
Subject: Re:
Request
Hello, are you available right now?
--
Best Regards
Luis Rafael Zarama
Bishop
Sacred Heart Church
Sent from my iPhone
Sent:
Friday, March 8, 2019 4:32 PM
To:
XXXXX
Subject:
Re: RE: Request
I'm in a meeting right now , that's why i'm contacting you through here. I should have called you instead of mailing you , but phones are not allowed to be use during the meeting. I don't know when the meeting will be rounding up And i want you to help me out on something very important right away.
--
Best Regards
Luis Rafael Zarama
Bishop
Sacred Heart Church
Sent from my iPhone
Example 2:
Date: June 19, 2018 at 11:08:46 AM EDT
To: XXXXX
Subject: Re: ONE IN CHRIST
Hi (Parishioner’s name), I need a favor from you. Please email me back as soon as possible
I need to get an iTunes gift card for a friend of mine going through cancer at the hospital but I can't do this now because I’m currently busy. Can you get it from any store around you? I’ll pay you back. Let me know if you can get the card for me. God bless you.
Blessing,
Fr. Priest First name Priest Last name
Sent from my iPhone
Example 3:
Date: June 19, 2018 at 11:08:46 AM EDT
To: XXXXX
Subject: Re: ONE IN CHRIST
Get two $100 iTunes gift card and have it send to his email
johnsmith@gmail.com
. God bless you
Blessing,
Fr. Priest First name Priest Last name
Sent from my iPhone
