A Catawba County church is warning others after scammers impersonated the pastor in emails asking members to buy Apple gift cards. Grace Lutheran Church officials said no one lost money, but one member responded before the scam was discovered.
Channel 9’s Dave Faherty spoke with the Rev. Doug Hefner on Thursday morning at Grace Lutheran Church, which dates back to the late 1700s and is well-known in the area.
The pastor said that they alerted members by phone and email when they became aware of the scam.
“My heart is that other people in the community might be aware of this. Don’t respond to it,” he said.
Church member Betty Wilfong got a scam email and didn’t fall for it.
“This world needs a lot of love and prayers, because anybody that scams a church, don’t have a heart,” Wilfong said.
The scammer asked for gift cards, in this case, two $200 Apple gift cards, deputies said.
The email had the pastor’s name and included the words “Church office pastor 111.”
Hefner said that he doesn’t want congregations to fall for the scam.
“It really is disheartening that anyone would do this, and usually it’s people who are elderly and people that can least afford to do something like that,” Hefner said.
He urged for others not to get tricked by scammers.
“Let’s make sure we expose these scammers and take care of it and get the word out,” he said.
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