10/01/2026
⚠️ A reminder to our church family: Please be cautious of scams pretending to come from pastors or church leaders.
Scammers are becoming increasingly convincing. With AI, they can create realistic emails, text messages, social media accounts, and even imitate someone’s voice. A message may use a familiar name, photo, or church information and still be fake.
A few simple rules can help keep you safe:
🔹 Stop and verify. If someone claiming to be a pastor or church leader asks for money, gift cards, personal information, or an urgent favor, contact that person separately using a phone number or email address you already trust.
🔹 Be suspicious of urgency or secrecy. Requests like “I’m in a meeting, so don’t call,” “I need this right away,” or “Please keep this between us” are major warning signs.
🔹 Don’t trust the name on your screen. Email addresses, phone numbers, social media accounts, voices, and even video can be impersonated or manipulated.
🔹 Think before you click or scan. Be cautious with unexpected links, attachments, QR codes, or requests for information.
🔹 When in doubt, call the church. We would much rather have you double-check than risk becoming the victim of a scam.
And remember: Our pastors and church leaders will not contact you privately asking you to purchase gift cards, send cryptocurrency, wire money, or provide passwords or login codes.
Our churches are communities built on generosity and trust. Unfortunately, scammers sometimes try to take advantage of that trust. Staying cautious online helps us look out for ourselves and for one another. ❤️
