New campaign launches to protect Catholics from online scams and fraud
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CNA Staff, Jul 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
As more Catholic parishes and notable Catholic figures become the targets of scammers, a new initiative has been launched to help Catholics spot a scam and avoid becoming victims.
Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions and former White House chief information officer, is spearheading the initiative, called “Protecting the Faithful.” The campaign is being actively rolled out in parishes across the country through bulletin announcements and the distribution of infographics, videos, and guides highlighting the red flags of a scam.
Many of these scams come in the form of emails sent to parishioners that look to be from their pastor asking them to donate to parish charities or ministries. Scammers are also targeting the fans of notable Catholic figures.
For instance, there have been several incidents where scammers impersonated Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie. The scammers have messaged Roumie’s followers on social media, pretending they are Roumie and promising a visit to the set of “The Chosen” or being the president of his fan club if they send a certain amount of money.
The Protecting the Faithful initiative is also being distributed on social media through official fan accounts of notable Catholic names in order to warn other fans as well as through podcasts and other Catholic news media outlets.
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Payton told CNA that she was inspired to do something about the problem because of “how the faithful are being taken advantage of by criminals and fraudsters.”
“I’ve had victims on the other end of the phone, ashamed that they were a victim, crying, sending their hard-earned money to bad people, and I just had such a broken heart over this that I was like, something must be done,” she said.
“I’ve spent a whole career profiling criminals, and what people need to know is they play to our heart, they play to our human nature,” she added. “They know how to get us to act fast, they know how to get to our sympathies, to the best things about us, and they exploit the best things about us.”
Payton pointed out that with the recent technological advancements, specifically artificial intelligence, it is even easier for scammers to create voice clones, fake videos, and fake images, such as fake driver’s licenses and passports, which can be created “at speed and at scale.”
There are several red flags Payton warns individuals to be aware of in order to be able to spot a scammer, specifically when it comes to impersonators on social media.
The first is receiving a message from an impersonator saying that the account the person is messaging from is his or her personal or backup account, not the person’s official account. Second is if the person asks to move the conversation over to WhatsApp or Telegram, which are encrypted apps used for communicating. The third red flag is when a scammer invites the individual to become the president of a fan club for a certain amount of money. Lastly, any kind of link that is sent should never be clicked on.
Payton emphasized that those who’ve been a victim of a scam need to know that “you’ve done nothing wrong, you’re not dumb, you are a good person and because you’re a good person, somebody took advantage of you and you should not feel ashamed of that.”
She also urged individuals to report scams to their local police and IC3.gov, which is monitored by the FBI, and when a large trend is seen, an investigation is conducted and a public service announcement is released warning people nationwide of the scam that is taking place.
Another resource Payton mentioned for those who’ve been a victim is the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that offers free resources and guidance to help individuals take the proper steps to recover their identities and other information that may have been stolen.
Returning to the goal of the campaign, Payton said it is to “make sure that everybody around me in the Catholic faith, and even outside the Catholic faith, is as safe and secure as possible.”
She added: “I love being Catholic, and part of what we’re called to do is to take the talents God gave us and invest those in a way that is pleasing to him.”
“If my team and I can do something to avoid another victim, then every moment we spend on this initiative and on this campaign is worth it,” she said.