Beware of scam emails and texts asking for money or gift cards

The Diocese of Albany has seen an increased amount of email and texting scams reported to the communications office from parishes in its 14 counties.  

Parishioners receive deceptive emails or texts from fake accounts, oftentimes asking for money, gift cards, or personal information.  

The Diocese has even received reports of a fake Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger email address circulating around in an attempt to fool Catholics into sending money to a fraudulent account. 

Here’s what to know:

• No one’s email is being “hacked,” rather the perpetrator creates a new address that looks real while using believable language.

• There is no single way to stop these fraudulent emails. The only way to prevent them is to be alert. Never give anyone personal information or money via email or text. Within a suspicious email, do not reply or click on any links.

• If someone receives an email that looks credible, they should double-check by calling the parish to ask if such an email was sent out. — Double-check the email address for variations of a name. If the person’s actual email is [email protected], a fake one might look like [email protected] or a similar variation.

• All suspicious emails or email scams should be reported to [email protected] in order for the Diocese to track and warn others.

In many cases, the first encounter with a scammer looks similar to this: “Hello, Good morning, I hope you slept well? May God almighty Bless you abundantly today. My Phone is faulty, that is why I am contacting you through here. I would have called or texted you. I need a favor from you, please reply to me on this email.” Or, “How are you? I need a favor from you. Please email me back as soon as possible. Hope to hear from you soon.”

Often the second email will imply urgency to prevent due diligence, sometimes pretending to be a patient who is in the hospital who is seeking an iTunes gift card for games, television or movies.

The scam email will arrive after business hours, making it difficult to check its legitimacy. Always remain cautious and remember there will never be an after-hours emergency that an iTunes gift card can resolve.