Priests warn about scams targeting parishioners

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY — Some parishes in the Diocese of Salt Lake City have been targets of a scam in which parishioners are receiving emails, texts or instant messages from someone posing as their pastor asking for monetary donations, or stating that he is in distress and needs their financial support immediately. There has even been an email circulating that purports to be from Bishop Oscar A. Solis asking for a favor; again, this is a scam.

“I think it happens periodically to some of the priests all over the country,” said Fr. Andrzej Skrzypiec, pastor of Saint Olaf Parish, who has had some parishioners receive such messages.

“The thieves are sending email or text messages with a priest’s name that looks like a message from the priest,” he said. “Of course it comes from a fake phone number or fake email, but how many people remember phone numbers or email addresses?”

One of the most frequent scams is the request for parishioners to purchase an Apple card worth several hundred dollars and to send the card’s code to the specified email or phone number. “If somebody does it, they quickly buy with those numbers as if they bought the card,” said Fr. Skrzypiec, adding that he would never ask anyone for money or to buy cards on his behalf.

Similarly, Fr. Christopher Gray, pastor at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, said, “I would never, ever ask anyone for money.”

People should be aware that if their email address or phone number is public, “people can contact you, not necessarily for the reason that you wanted them to,” Fr. Gray said. 

When someone brings to his attention that they have received a malicious or strange request that supposedly is from him, Fr. Skrzypiec posts on his Facebook page or in the parish bulletin warning people about the scam.

“I heard about three or four people who received those scams, but am guessing that there could have been more people that just deleted without bothering to tell me about that,” he said.

Fr. Gray suggests that people who receive such emails report them as malicious immediately; they may also send the information to the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC website suggests people protect their computers by keeping software up to date and by using security software; that cellphone software be updated automatically; and that financial accounts require multifactor authentication.

Also, people now are trying to take advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak to scam money. On Tuesday, a priest reported that a man told him that his 5-year-old daughter was in the hospital, dying of the virus, and the family was from out of town and needed money for a hotel. After checking with the hospital, the priest determined that the man was trying to scam money. Local hospitals are able to refer the families of patients to resources for housing and food. Exercise caution if you are contacted by someone asking for help in this regard.