An online scammer traced to Africa was able to bag at least 3,900 US dollars (P199,000 ) of supposed donation to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, a Church official said.
The fraudster pretended to be Archbishop Palma using a hoax email asking for donations or help saying that the archbishop is in Europe and in distress.
In a written statement last October 21, Archbishop Palma reiterated his disclaimer saying he had not asked for solicitations using such email.
“I do not ask and never solicit funds from different institutions/groups, nor does my staff without my prior knowledge, formal consent, and definite authorization,” Palma said.
Archdiocese spokesperson, Msgr. Jose Tan, confirmed that a friend of the Archbishop was able to send money worth 3,900 dollars to the unidentified scammer after receiving the hoax email account [email protected].
“The IP address was last traced to Nigeria,” Tan said.
The e-mail address [email protected] was earlier reported for soliciting money in behalf of Palma. The Archdiocese has already made an announcement last October 11 to dismiss these solicitation requests as the Church secretariat did not own such email account.
The modus of the scammer is to ask at least P70,000 emergency funds saying the Archbishop is in need of financial help for an emergency while traveling to Ukraine.
