Today's scam

[George K]

Some background. Mrs. George's church is in search of a full-time pastor. While the search progresses, there are two temporary pastors filling in. One does the Wednesday evening service (Pastor Chris) and the other does Sundays (Pastor Mark).

Last Sunday, Mrs. George asked Pastor Mark for a prayer, as she was having an ERCP on Friday morning. She asked for it by sending him an email. His email is pastormark@aol.com (not his real email, of course)

Good afternoon Pastor,

I am having a procedure this coming friday (April 5th).

Could you include me in tomorrow’s prayers?

Thank you,

He responded:

Hello
God's people will join with you in petitioning the Lord for the procedure to fulfill His good and gracious will for you, and for us all.
Grace and peace.
Pastor Mark

Everything went well with the procedure (ERCP). Mrs. George didn't attend services this AM (just a little worn out) and yesterday morning she got an email from Pastor Chris.

Home today??

She responded today at 10:16.

Sorry for the belated reply!

Came home right after the procedure.

Doing well.

Pastor Chris responded 10 min later:

That's good. I need a favor and I will be glad if you can help me with this now.. I have been working on surprising some of our diligent staff with gift cards today but I am very busy, This should be Confidential until they all have the gift cards and you are keeping one for yourself too. Can you get them for me at any store around you now?

She responded:

I would be glad to help, but I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking for.

When you get a chance, can you give me a call?

708-XXX-XXXX

THanks,

Mrs. George

He responded 6 minutes later:

I am very busy today but I will send the details to you now. I will be glad if you can get them now, I need you to purchase 6 quantities of Amazon gift cards for $100 each, Totaling $600. They sell them at Dollar Tree, King Soopers or any store around. After you get the cards. I want you to remove the packs then scratch the back of the cards to reveal the pins and take a snapshot of the back of the card showing the pins starting with letter AQ, I want you to have the photos sent to me here. so I can easily send it to each staff member via email.

I want you to hold the cards with you. I will get them from you later, I will reimburse you later today. Thanks

She didn't see it until 6 hours later.

Just got your mail. Sorry it’s late in the day.

I’m not sure I know how to do this, I’ll have ask my husband. I was not in church today - not feeling 100% yet.

If you need help, please call me.

My husband just told me that you can get an “e-gift” card at Amazon directly.

No need for a physical card.

Pastor Chris:

Yes but I am unable to do that. I will be glad if you can help me purchase them online now. I want you to purchase the cards to your email. So after you receive the PINS number from amazon then you can forward them to me here. Thanks

For a guy who's too busy to buy some gift cards, he sure responds to emails quickly.

Also, the email that it came from is "pastorxxxxx@gmail.com"

Looking at emails that she got from Pastor Mark, I see that Pastor Chris's email is "churchXXXX@aol.com."

All sounds pretty scammy to me.

Thoughts?

[Horace]

seems obviously a scam? Someone got a list of emails for the congregation, and sent emails from a fake account for pastor chris. An inside job to the extent that they knew the congregation had some new pastors. Not very inside.

[Jolly]

Scam.

[Renauda]

Yes. Stop all communications and report to local police commercial crime unit.

[George K]

They sell them at Dollar Tree, King Soopers or any store around.

There's no King Soopers in the Chicago area.

[Renauda]

@George-K

There's no King Soopers in the Chicago area.

There you have it then, hoisted by his own petard..

[Copper]

That was not even close from the first mention of gift cards.

Call the police.

[George K]

The "grammar" in the request is funny too.

[George K]

Ahmed was wondering if "Pastor Chris" got the gift cards.

[George K]

Oopsie! I accidentally posted his email address.

Hope no one bothers him.

[George K]

Pastor Mark replied:

Mrs. Kxxxxxxxxx.

You and your husband are correct.
Any email that is not from Pastor Chris's original address chuXXXXte@***** is bogus and a scam.

There have been reports of members in other congregations receiving similar attempts to steal monies. It started a few years back, scammers started trolling church websites, using legitimate clergy names but using bogus addresses, hoping readers wouldnt notice.

You caught the criminals redhanded in their attempt to steal.

I'm not sure why they chose this moment to target our church. They may keep trying. Vigilance like yours is the only deterrence we have. They only go away when their tricks yield no results.

Sadly, they'll only end up subjecting other congregations to their cheating scams.

I advise
Please share no personal info with anyone. Not even your phone number.
If you get any phonecalls pitching this scam, id hangup asap. And then permanently block that number.

Ive had members get scam calls, falsely claiming to be a grandchild by name, saying they need grandpa to send money orders or gift cards on account of some bogus crisis.

Bottom line, follow your instincts. They have already served you well. If it sounds fishy, it is.

Thank you for being careful.

Grace and peace
Pastor Mark