A relatively new member of our congregation was attacked recently by a scammer who tried to pry money out of their pocket by impersonating me. Thankfully, they called me before they acted on the message, and I disabused them of the notion that I was trying to raise money for some cause.
This has happened before, and I am sorry that a congregant fell for it the last time and forked over a few hundred dollars. I am not the only minister who has been impersonated and I regret I cannot stop this activity.
I can, however, give you some clues so that you can identify miscreants before you succumb to scams in my name. First, I would not ask you for money or assistance for myself. Just won’t happen. If you receive a message from me that asks for money or assistance for a congregant in need, here are some considerations you should think about before sending money:
1. Consider the circumstances. It is extremely unlikely that I would approach, by electronic message, any one member or friend of this congregation, for monetary or physical assistance for another congregant or particular need. It is more likely that I would tap the Minister's Discretionary Fund. I might also involve the Caring Team, or maybe, the Stewardship Trustee. I might also make some sort of public announcement, like this blog post, which all could see.
2. Regarding e-mail, if you get a plea for assistance from me, closely examine the sender, which has both a display name and a return e-dress. The display name could be anything, from Donald Duck to Donald Trump. So if the display name is “Rev. Jeff Briere,” treat it with suspicion until you examine the return e-dress. My return e-dress is <jeffbriere@gmail.com> and I am the only person who can send e-mail from that address. I don’t send email from <jeffbriere@yahoo.com> or <jeffbriere@msn.com> or <minister@hvuuc.org.> The current scammer had a display name of “Rev. Jeff Briere” and return e-dress of <churchpastor5066@gmail.com>, which is an obvious giveaway.
3. I would not use Facebook nor any other social media platform to contact you about an emergency or a request for assistance. Just won’t happen.
4. Examine the body of the message. I write complete English sentences, with a subject, an object and a verb. I use appropriate quotation marks, commas, periods and other such. If sentences begin with a lower-case letter, and they run on with no period, if they have screwy syntax, if they have stray apostrophes, you can bet I did not write them, no matter how much the message indicates I might be in distress.
5. In the current situation, the person who got scammed could not balance the crazy message they were reading with what they knew of me and my communication style. They called me to verify my request, which is a good idea. If you are suspicious, call me to see if I wrote you. Leave a message with the office.
6. Tiffany may want to amend these remarks, and she will do so later this summer.
Rev. Jeff Briere
Minister
Holston Valley
Unitarian Universalist Church
www.hvuuc.org