South Okanagan church victim of email scam

A South Okanagan church had its email hacked on Wednesday, and is now warning parishioners and others so they won’t be scammed.

St. Stephen Anglican Church in Summerland, B.C., says an email is circulating among its members and rental-user groups asking for a financial donation via Amazon gift cards.

The request is a scam, says the church, adding the email falsely claims to be written by one of its parishioners requesting a donation for a friend’s birthday.

One parishioner says the church’s webmail was hacked, and, when they eventually found out, their contact list had been compromised.

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That contact list included anyone who rented out the church or had anything to do with the church.

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One church member said he trusted the email, saying it was cleverly worded, and sent out $300, only to find out it was a scam. However, he quickly contacted his financial institution, which blocked the transaction.

For more information about how to protect yourself from frauds and scams, including email phishing, visit the RCMP’s website.

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