Yesterday, you might have received the fraudulent text message pictured above. We're glad that many of you did the right thing, which was to realize it was part of a phishing scam and ignore it, or contact the parish office to verify the validity of the message. Either way, it was not a text from Monsignor Heinz, but rather an attempt to steal money.
When we became aware of the message, we immediately contacted the McHenry County Sheriff's Office and sent out notifications to the parish via Flocknote and Facebook, warning of the scam. We want to let everyone know that we are continuing to follow up on the matter by contacting the vendors who might have contact information and enlisting the help of the Diocese with the investigation.
According to Bob White, IT Manager for the Rockford Diocese, ours is not the only parish to recently be targeted in this way, and it's a good time to remind everyone to be aware of the constant threat of electronic phishing scams.
- Beware of messages which look too wordy and in depth. To make their scam work, they must try to gain trust right away. This means over explaining the introduction and premise of the reason they need you to act.
- If the message says something needs to be handled right away, that's your sign that you need to be careful. The scammers need to take whatever they can before they are discovered. This is why their message will say you need to act now.
- Do not follow links provided in the message. Although not in our case, often in a phishing scam you will be told that your account is locked and you need to click on a link to reactivate your account. Do not log in from an email link, as this may be the way a scammer is capturing your user name and password. Instead, go to the website directly to log in to check on the status of your account.
- Most importantly, do not purchase gift cards, supply credit/debit card information, or provide bank routing numbers in response to such a message. St. Joseph Catholic Church will never ask for that information and requests for donation will never me made in an email or text message. If you did any of these, contact the McHenry County Sheriff's Department immediately!
Should you have additional questions, call the parish office at 815-678-7421.