Scammers are reaching out to parishioners pretending to be priests, the Catholic Diocese of Auckland has warned.

An email sent out to Auckland parishioners from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland warned scammers were reportedly pretending to be priests and reaching out for gift cards and money.

The executive assistant of the Bishop’s Office says the texts usually started by saying the name of the priest and can include the names of parishioners.

“The text will say they’re in a meeting, so don’t phone, but text back and that your help is critical and highly appreciated.

“If you respond, they will ask you to do something for them, for example, buy gift cards, and they claim they’ll pay you back or something else.

“The scams are very good and don’t always include bad grammar or spelling errors like they did before, but often rely on urgency so that you don’t think before replying.”

Executive officer of the Bishop’s office, Alison Munro, says they have been contacted by a number of people who have received the messages and one had used a few hundred dollars of parish funds before realising it was a scam.

”Those affected were contacted by someone pretending to be their parish priest and addressing them by their own first name.

“If the person replies, they ask them to purchase gift cards as a show of appreciation for dedicated staff, saying they will be reimbursed. They say to keep it confidential so it can be a surprise and instruct them to email photos of the front and back of the cards.”

The email warns parishioners to always carefully check email addresses and phone numbers along with not clicking on unknown links.

“Priests will not be asking you to buy them anything. If anyone is unsure, ring the parish office number before replying.”

The scam has previously been reported by churches in the United States, including the Diocese of Grand Rapids in West Michigan.

Simon Gallagher, manager of consumer services at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, wouldn’t get into the specifics of the scam, but says scammers constantly evolve to make their scams harder to spot.

”They often work hard to appear trustworthy. Scams most often come through unexpected contact, such as a phone call, an email or a text.”

Anyone who thinks they’ve been a victim of fraud should contact police on 105, says Simon.

A police spokesperson says they are not aware of any reports relating to the scam.

-Melanie Earley/Stuff.