ALERT: Text Phishing Scam From "Fr. Tollefson"

Fraudulent texts claiming to come from "Fr. Rolf Tollefson" are being delivered to parishioners with the intent to confuse, manipulate, and steal.

See the photo at right for an example. Please be on guard!

Just like the email and text scams which have been targeting parishioners at least as far back as 2018, these texts are coming from non-Nativity contacts.

Nativity clergy and staff will never send “emergency” or “urgent” texts requesting money, Amazon gift cards, Google Play gift cards, iTunes gift cards, or any other monetary requests. 

If you receive a questionable text, please do not reply, and certainly do not purchase anything or provide any sensitive information, particularly financial information.

Please always be vigilant and even be skeptical of unknown cell numbers. Even if the texter uses a familiar name, and even if the text uses your name.

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

What to do if you receive a text from a scammer claiming to be Fr. Tollefson:

• You can sometimes report a scammer directly from your mobile device (see photo at right).
• Forward the text to 7726 (the numbers spell out SPAM). Doing so allows cell phone carriers to identify the senders of "smishing" messages and take steps to limit messages from them going forward.
• You are also encouraged to make a report to the Federal Trade Commission here: reportfraud.ftc.gov.
• Block the number from sending you future texts.
• Forward a screenshot to the parish office so we can be aware of any new scamming attempts and strategies.

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@nativity-mn.org if you have any questions about suspect texts or emails.

Thank you!

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From the archives:

• Previous post on phishing emails from 7/30/2021: 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/