I first warned you about this particular scam in June of 2017, but it has recently resurfaced in many places around the country including North Carolina, Louisiana and Nebraska in great numbers although the threat is present in every state. Local church members are receiving what appear to be emails from their pastors asking them to make contributions through iTunes gift cards. In 2017 the scams primarily asked targeted victims to wire money to accounts and people named in the emails.  The emails come from email addresses that appear at first glance to be that of the pastors, but a closer inspection will disclose that it is coming from a different email provider than the pastor uses.
TIPS
The key to protecting yourself from this scam is to first be skeptical whenever you get a request to wire money or make a payment through iTunes gift cards because once money has been wired, it is gone forever which is why it is a favorite method of payment for scammers. As for gift cards, once you provide the numbers from the gift cards, the scammers utilize the gift cards to make purchases that they quickly sell in order to get cash. No church solicits iTunes gift cards nor does the IRS which is why when someone posing as a religious institution or the IRS asks for a payment through an iTunes gift card you can be sure it is a scam.  The second thing that we all should do is to always confirm the legitimacy of any request for a donation of any kind before making a payment.
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