Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Parishioners and staff have received fake emails from someone claiming to be me. The email address of the sender is not my email address and is suspicious if one looks at the address (the latest one is from Bonifacejames001 at gmail– that is neither my name nor my email address). It asks the recipient to email back the sender’s address and the person will then request gift cards, claiming to be me. THESE EMAILS ARE FAKE. I will never ask anyone for gift cards through email.
My email address ends in “@
opeast.org”– if you receive an email that does not have that ending, then it is not from me. If you are ever in doubt contact the parish email address to make sure and we can confirm whether an email was fake or not.
I have heard from other pastors that they have had the same fraudulent emails sent in their name (also with their name followed by 001 at gmail), so someone is making a concerted effort across many parishes to scam people. Please be careful out there.
God Bless,
(The real) Fr. Boniface