Bluffton church scammed into releasing personal information of its members
A Bluffton church was scammed into sharing the names and contact information of its members, according to a police report.
Campbell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church fell victim to the scam after receiving a fake email on June 2.
The email asked the church for a copy of its church directory, while posing as a church employee or affiliate in their wording.
The email account, “churchofficejk@gmail.com” read, “Hi, please send me a copy of our church directory.” An employee did so, releasing the names, addresses and phone numbers of over 400 members of the church.
A police officer at the scene advised the church to notify all victims of potential scam calls and emails.
When contacted by The Island Packet, the church declined to comment on the incident.
Recent notable scams in the area
Two Hilton Head residents had over $1,000 worth of American Airlines miles stolen by unauthorized users in May, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. It is unclear how the miles were stolen, but the value equated to about 100,000 miles.
Also in May, a woman spent over $10,000 on a fake short term rental listing she found on Facebook. These rental fraud scams can be identified by their fabricated sense of urgency and request for payment through gift cards, unsecured wire transfers and cryptocurrency, as well as other money transfer apps like Venmo, PayPal, and Zelle.
Another common scam involves impersonators calling elderly residents with fake claims of trouble. The impersonator makes the claim that they are in trouble and need money, They also claim to have forms of an individual’s identification and/or social security number to scare the victim into believing the danger.
One such scam also happened in May, when a man called an 82-year-old Hilton Head resident and told him he was connected to a truck at the United States border carrying a large amount of cocaine. These callers often impersonate law enforcement officers or government officials.