I’ve seen this scam before. I got an email from a First Presbyterian pastor. But not one of MY First Presbyterian ministers, but a guy in another city.Good Morning,
I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to ask if you’re open to communicating via email. I have a task I’d like to entrust to you, and it requires a bit of discretion. Please let me know as soon as you’re able. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.
Many blessings in Christ,
{name and title, plus a thumbnail photo]
Out of curiosity, I reply:
Warily, I’m saying OK.
The “pastor” writes:
Thank you for your response. I’m a little busy this week, and I have been working on incentives. I aim to surprise some of our members with gift cards today. This should be Confidential until they all have the gift cards in their email, as it’s a surprise, and you will keep one for yourself too. Please, let me know via email if you can help purchase them now, so I can tell you what to get in the next email.
Many blessings in Christ,
Warm regards,
{name and title]
I looked up the church. There was a pastor by that name there, and it is his picture, but the URL included the church name.org rather than Gmail.com.
I wrote to them:
Hello. I am a member of First Pres Albany, and I received this obviously fraudulent message.
Not coincidentally, some of our parishioners received a similar message, purportedly from our pastors.
The real church replied:
Thank you!! I will be sure to report to our team.
BTW, in an e-blast, my church noted that our pastors “would never reach out that way randomly for assistance. Thanks to all who notified them of the problem.”
Previously
I got the exact same email a while ago, but I forgot who it was from.
A few years ago, I received an email from another preacher I know. This message suggested that “he” had been traveling – which he, in fact, did often – and he was stuck out of the country after being robbed.
I contacted a mutual acquaintance, who assured me the message was bogus. While I expected as much, the verification comforted me.
The Royal Scam – Steely Dan
