Please be aware of a rise in scam emails targeting parishioners. These emails can attempt to impersonate the parish priest, often using a similar email name and masking the real email address.
They typically request the recipient to purchase Amazon or other gift cards as gifts for the priest.
Unfortunately, we have received reports of parishioners in other parishes falling victim to these scams, with some individuals losing up to £600 to the fraudsters.
- We will never ask you to purchase gift cards or gifts for the parish priest, based on an email request.
- We only use approved diocesan email addresses and not Gmail or anything similar.
- If you are unsure, please double-check any suspicious email by directly contacting the parish office by telephone or in person – do not respond to the email or click on any links.
- Avoid sharing your personal or financial information in response to any unsolicited emails received
- If you do encounter these emails, please report them by forwarding to report@phishing.gov.uk and inform the parish office immediately.
If you think you may have been a victim of fraud or cyber crime, you should report this to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.
Visit the National Cyber Security Centre for more information and advice
Why you should report phishing scams
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a UK government organisation that has the power to investigate and take down scam email addresses and websites.
Reporting a scam is free and only takes a minute. By reporting phishing attempts, you can:
- reduce the amount of scam communications you receive
- make yourself a harder target for scammers
- protect others from cyber crime online
As of October 2024 the number of reports received stands at more than: 36 million reported scams which has resulted in: 200,000 scams being removed across 363,864 URLs