The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) reported a church scam going around on Monday.
Authorities said scammers were impersonating church leaders, with emails going to the congregations and local businesses asking to “contact them urgently” or send them money.
One of the churches that were hit with the scam was Cartecay Baptist Church. Their pastor, Chad Hall, spoke with AccessWDUN about how they dealt with it.
“You’re trying to do good out there, and you’re trying to minister to a congregation, and then you get this,” Hall said, adding he felt annoyed at the scam attempt.
Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shows that in 2024, over 101,000 victims aged 60 and over reported fraud crime to their agency. That is a significant increase compared to victims under the age of 20, where right around 18,000 victims reported similar crimes.
“That’s the sad part of it,” Hall said. “They love their pastor, they think something’s going on with him when they see an email like this.”
Hall shared a screenshot of what one of the scam emails looked like, which is attached to the photo gallery at the top of the article.
It reads: “You have a moment? I have a request I need you to handle discreetly. I’m currently busy in a prayer session, no calls, kindly respond to my email promptly”.
“Be very, very careful,” Hall said. “I looked at it, it was not even my email address. So check before you open and see if the email address looks legit.”
Hall said they first got word of the scam on Friday with three members of the congregation asking him about it, but have since taken care of it. No loss of money has occurred that we know of, with the scam email Hall sent AccessWDUN being forwarded to him with the church member asking if it was him.
Hall also added no one came up to him and brought it up at church this past Sunday, and his team sent out an alert to the congregation immediately after they got wind of it. He also reported the incident to GCSO officials.
The other church being hit according to officials is Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, where the scammers are posing as Senior Pastor Dan Rosser.
Gilmer officials reminded residents to not click the links, do not reply, and to delete the emails immediately.
