Scam alert - Priest request for gift card

An email scam targeting parishioners in Catholic churches across Canada is now active in the Archdiocese of Toronto.

The scam, previously reported by several other dioceses, has now appeared in our own diocese with reports of at least one parishioner who lost $300 to a fraudster pretending to be the pastor of a parish. Several other dioceses had reported an email scam in which Catholics have received requests, purportedly from their parish priests, for iTunes gift cards. A false email from a priest is sent asking for the electronic gift cards to be sent to another address so that they may be given to someone in need.

Please exercise caution when checking email messages. Think before you click or open attachments, and always verify suspect messages by phoning the sender on a known phone number (not the phone number in the suspect message).