A continuing problem is people trying to defraud parishioners using my name.  They will send a note to your email and pretend they are me.  They will say that I am in a meeting or away somewhere and that there is an emergency need.  They will ask you to buy gift cards for eBay, iTunes, or some other merchant.  Then they will instruct you to send the information on the cards to some email address.  They will tell you that the information would be used to help a person in need.

IT IS FRAUD.  IT IS NOT COMING FROM ME! 

These people who want to take advantage of your goodness will use my name.  They are constantly changing their approach and getting trickier.  Now, they seem to be sending it from MY email address at the church. 
What can we do?  Unfortunately, probably not much.  It may be best to simply ignore the message and delete it.  I will never approach you this way!  Or you can call the parish office and let us know someone is trying to do this (AGAIN!).  We try to catch these scams as soon as we can.  The people running them are usually very smart with computers and the Internet and can hide. 

You can forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.   
However, there is usually nothing that can be done, because these deceivers move very quickly to keep ahead of the authorities.

I thank you for your continued generosity in so many ways, especially in responding to those in need.  You are a wonderful witness.  I am sorry that some people choose to try to take advantage of your kindness.  I want you to realize that God sees your generous spirit and, God help them, sees the lies and greed of others.  Please keep being generous, but be aware of these kinds of scams.