No, I’m not stranded in Portugal. I’m not being held a hostage by customs officials in the Philippines. I don’t have elderly relatives who need emergency surgery in Kenya. I haven’t just met a dying hospital patient who desperately needs to shop on Amazon. I have never asked—and never will—for anyone to send me gift cards to deal with the above situations. If you receive an email “from” me and it makes that kind of request, you’re being scammed. Don’t respond. Just delete the email. Sadly, churches are at particular risk because we publish contact information for leadership— paid and volunteer. (Yes, if you’re on our media—volunteers, heads of committees, members of councils—you’ll be first to get the fake emails.) Please know that any request for funds from our parishes will come in a very public manner—the bulletin, the website, etc. No secret emails from the priests, looking for special favors.