On Saturday, January 17, several members of Macedonia Baptist began receiving the following text from 302-342-9835:

“Hi (member’s name) Please return my text when you get it, I have a favor to ask.-Rev John Livaudais”


Those that replied to the text received the following:


“Currently in a meeting, would have called. I need to get Apple gift cards today for some women battling cancer in the hospital but I can’t do that right now because of my busy schedule. Can you get it from any nearby store? I will repay Thanks.”

 

Investigation revealed that we were victims of a known scam:

 

There is a widespread scam where bad actors impersonate pastors, requesting gift cards or monetary assistance. These scammers use various social engineering tactics, gathering information from church websites, social media, and public records. They are highly skilled at making their messages seem legitimate.

 

In our case, the scammers sent an email to the church’s email address identifying themselves as one of our church staff members requesting a PDF copy of our church directory. Believing it was a legitimate request, I emailed the link to the scammer. The scammer then accessed our directory and began sending the fraudulent texts. Subsequent investigation revealed the request actually came from pastorjameshenricks@gmail.com, likely a fake address.

If you received the fraudulent text, do not respond, delete the text, report as junk and block the number,

Reporting Scam Text Messages

  • Text Forwarding:Copy the message and send it to 7726 (SPAM) to help your wireless provider block similar messages.
  • Phone Settings:Use built-in reporting tools on Android and iOS.
  • Federal Trade Commission (FTC):Report scam texts at ftc.gov.