Parishioners and ministry leaders in the Diocese of San Angelo and around the country continue to find themselves the targets of scams. One frequent tactic used by criminals to defraud the faithful is to utilize text messages or email to impersonate a pastor and ask for the purchase of gift cards. The person claiming to be the pastor will claim they need gift cards for some charitable reason, but say they need the person receiving the text messages or emails to purchase the gift cards and share the validation information.

Please be aware of these scams. Your pastor will not contact you to purchase gift cards for him. When the scammers are successful in these endeavors, it is almost impossible for the victim to recover their lost money.

According to a March 1, 2018, press release from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the scammers are using information found on churches’ website or in churches’ online bulletins to trick members of the church into sending them gift cards. To report suspected fraud to the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division, call 1-800-621-0508 or file a complaint at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/file-consumer-complaint.