Phishers of People: Text Fraud and the Church

“Please return my text when you get it.”  The Reverend Dr. Jennifer Hope-Tringali

You may have received something like the above text this week or sometime last week. These messages are scam texts so please do not respond. The Revered Dr. Jennifer Hope-Tringali or any of the Christ the King Church staff will never text you asking for money, gift cards, or anything like that.

Churches have seen a significant spike in these kinds of text scams. Attacks like these are more and more common. There are some ways for individuals to identify them and for churches to minimize them.

People prey on church folks because you are so generous. The best bet when receiving something like this, that doesn’t look right, is to pick up and call the church directly. We will never ask you for money or gift cards in the form of a text or email. Please inform us of any attempt and/or disregard any request of this nature.

Our IT department has been working on this. As far as the recent reports of suspicious messages received by members, we can confirm that there has been no data breach on our local servers. Based on the limited logs available from the Shelby system, we did not observe any suspicious login activity. All users of Shelby, as a precaution, have changed their password. All members need to verify the authenticity of any requests for donations or services they receive through email or text before taking any action.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

The Reverend Dr. Jennifer Hope-Tringali