More Phishing Emails from "Father Patrick"

Once again, fraudulent emails appearing to come from "Father Patrick Hipwell" or "Patrick Hipwell" are being delivered to parishioner email inboxes, with the intent to confuse and manipulate. See the photos at right for examples.

Similarly to the first few rounds over the past few years, these emails have been coming from Gmail accounts (email addresses ending in @gmail.com) or similar and not from our official Nativity of Our Lord accounts (addresses ending in @nativity-mn.org). This is the clearest sign they are fraudulent. In fact, this latest round doesn't even have Fr. Patrick's name in his email address.

However, this is particularly difficult to discern from mobile devices, as phone-based email applications often only show the display name (in this case "Father Patrick Hipwell"), and not the bogus email account name. 

All legitimate emails from Nativity clergy and staff come from the domain name “@nativitystpaul.org.” Furthermore, Nativity clergy and staff will never send “emergency” or “urgent” emails requesting money, iTunes gift cards, or any other assistance. 

If you receive a questionable email, please do not open, do not reply, and certainly do not provide any sensitive information, particularly financial information.

Please always check from what email address an email is originating —even if the display name is familiar, and even if they are addressing you by your name, and especially if you check your email on your mobile device.

When in doubt, contact the supposed source party through another channel, or ignore it altogether.

What to do if you receive an email from a scammer claiming to be Fr. Patrick:

• Forward the email to the parish office so we can be aware and keep track of this ongoing issue.
• You are also encouraged to make a report to the Federal Trade Commission here: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-4.
• Block the address from sending you future emails.

We have confirmed that parishes nationwide — including a number of other parishes in our local Archdiocese — are being similarly targeted with these scams. Please be (again) on high alert.

Finally, always feel free to contact the Parish Office at (651) 696-5401 or info@nativitystpaul.org if you have any questions about suspect emails.

Thank you!

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Earlier versions of this post appeared on November 15, 2018, March 22, 2019, and in May of 2021.

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From the archives:

• Previous post on phishing emails from 3/22/2019: https://nativitystpaul.org/news/phishing-emails
• Previous post on phishing texts from 4/15/19: http://nativitystpaul.org/news/phishing-scam-now-utilizing-texts
• Channel 5 story from 3/21/19, which interviews Isaac Huss, Director of Communications at Nativity: https://kstp.com/news/phishing-scam-targeting-area-churches-minneapolis-st-paul-ardiocese/5287778/?cat=12196
• The Catholic Spirit article from 5/1/19, which quotes our blog posts: http://thecatholicspirit.com/featured/online-scam-targets-priests-parishioners/