We have been alerted to phishing scams with emails appearing to be sent from Fr. Rick or other clergy/staff at Blessed Sacrament Parish. Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies or persons to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, and sometimes asking for a favor such as purchasing a gift card.
One way to tell whether an email is legitimate or a phishing attack is to check the sender’s email address. In the sample email below—the sender’s email address (highlighted in red) is not Fr. Rick’s real email.
Fr. Rick’s real email is: fr.rick@cath-comm.org
All Blessed Sacrament Parish clergy & staff email addresses have the extension @cath-comm.org
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*** Sample Email ***
From: Father Rick <swtopexoxo@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 1:10 PM
To: Admin Asst <admin@examplechurch.org>
Subject: Re: God bless you
Good to hear from you, its my niece birthday and I need to get her an iTunes gift card that I promised her as a birthday gift but I can't do this right now because I'm currently busy checking on a friend at the hospital. Can you get it from any store around you? I'll pay you back.
Blessings,
Fr. Rick
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These scams can also be sent via text message.
Can you stop these emails/texts?
No. We can add the email to a block list but typically the attacker just creates a new email address and sends another wave of attacks.
Is Father’s email hacked or compromised?
Most likely not. If Father's email was fully compromised, the attacker would have sent the email directly from Father's email.
What should I do if I have been scammed by a phisher?
Do not respond via email and call the parish office to check.