Rosemary Daszkiewicz, UUC member

A few weeks ago my partner got a text on his phone "from Rev. Jon" asking for help, and asking to communicate only by text. This was the start of a financial scam, and unfortunately, we didn’t come out unscathed. Today I got the same text on my phone, a screenshot of which is below. If you get a text you were not expecting that claims to be from Rev. Jon or Rev. Beth, please be skeptical. Is it from their phone number? (This one came from a 775 area code.) Have they ever texted you before? (The only text I can recall receiving from Jon was about a weather-related cancellation of a meeting.) Is this the way they normally convey church news? (Never.) Once these fraudsters get their claws in you, you can find yourself out of a lot of money very fast. And most of us are ashamed to admit that we were tricked, so the word doesn’t get out as much as it should.

Please be skeptical of any church-related communication that seems unusual. And please share this with any friends or contacts you have who you think might be vulnerable—and with everyone else, too. Even the reasonably tech savvy among us can get caught in a confidence game!