KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knox County Sheriff's Office said it received several reports of scammers posing as church leaders, asking church personnel and members to send gift card information to help people in need.
It said on social media that scammers tend to send either text messages or emails and said if anyone receives a message from a pastor asking for gift card money they should reach out to the pastor personally to confirm the message came from them.
KCSO also shared an example of a message that a victim may receive as part of the scam. It is available below.
"Hello Sam, Let me know when you're available
There is something I need you to do for me, I am going into a meeting now with limited phone calls, so please just reply as text
[Pastors name]"
KCSO said the sender may not be in victims' contact lists, and said scammers can use spoofing techniques to make it seem like a message is legitimately coming from a pastor. The sheriff's office encouraged anyone who receives a scam message to ignore its request, screenshot the message, report it to authorities and then delete it.
Anyone who received a message from a scammer posing as a pastor can reach out to crimetips@knoxsheriff.org to report it.