Hingham, MA - A resident report she was almost scammed by a fake email account claiming to be from a Hingham church seeking gift cards. Before she actually purchased them, the resident called the actual church to verify and learned it was a scam.

The resident showed us a lengthy email chain from someone claiming to be a local priest at a Hingham church. The email address it was sent from began with the words "churchoffice" to appear more genuine. The email explained the "priest" wanted to be able to send email prayers with a gift card to the church's hardworking staff just before the holidays. The email claimed the priest was tied up in a prayer session so he was unable to talk on his phone and asked her to respond via emails only.

The "priest" asked the this be handled discreetly and done today. He asked the resident for 6 Target gift cards each worth $200. Once purchased, he asked the resident to scratch off the codes on the cards and email photos of both sides of the cards. The resident called the actual priest and learned it was a scam before she purchased anything.

As always, we suggest not even opening unfamiliar emails-just delete them. Email and text scams attempts happen to all of us daily. Remember, full names such as the priests (or police officers names) are available to anyone on the websites and are used by scammers to make them look legitimate. Most times the scammers are in a different country. The obvious "red flags" here would be the need to handle discretely, that it needs to be done today, that the sender cannot be reached by phone and the person needs your help. As a reminder, we only take police reports when someone losses money or gives out sensitive information (bank account, credit card, Social Security numbers, etc.). ### Contact P.I.O. Lt. Steven Dearth