CARMEL – Putnam County Sheriff Robert Langley, Jr. is warning residents about a scam targeting parishioners of local places of worship.
In this scam, the scammers, purporting to be a pastor, priest or other leader of a house of worship, sends text message to the victim, who is a parishioner of the facility.
The scammer, via the text message, explains to the victim that they are collecting Steam Cards and/or iTunes gift cards for patients battling COVID-19 and they direct the victim to purchase those cards, scratch off the numbers on the back and send screenshots of the codes to them via text message.
In several cases the scammers specifically request that the victims purchase gift cards in $100 denominations.
Sheriff Robert Langley, Jr. said anyone who is contacted by scammers should report the incident to the Internet Crimes Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
