Email scam alert

Several St. Peter's parishioners received strange and suspicious emails this week from someone claiming to be Rev. Bonnie, and they did the right thing: they checked it out.

In one case, the email from "Rev. Bonnie" said she was in a meeting, but asked the parishioner to buy an Amazon gift card to give to a cancer patient. In another case, the scammer simply asked the parishioner to reply to the message – presumably the fraudulent request would have come through the subsequent conversation.

If you receive a strange email from Rev. Rob, Rev. Bonnie or any other clergyperson, take a close look at the sender's address. In this case, the emails came from snrleadpastor@gmail.com and other variations on the same theme. Clergy at St. Peter's will only contact parishioners using their church email addresses, and never with a request for a parishioner to give or spend money.

"This is so sad, but it happens to all clergy now," the vacationing Rev. Bonnie said in an email to Setting Sail. "It is too easy to get our names or positions off websites: the state of the world. I hope no one falls for it."

The bottom line is that if you get an email that smells fishy, it probably is. If you receive such an email and the sender's address looks suspicious, please delete the message, block the user and pray for the cybercriminal's soul!