Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota, 3975 Fruitville Road, Sarasota FL 34232, Tel. 941-371-4974
  • Home
  • Visitors
    • Welcome Visitors
    • Who we are as a Faith
    • Who we are as a Church
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Virtual Guestbook
  • Sundays
    • Virtual Church 2022 >
      • Making of Virtual Church
    • Upcoming Services in Sarasota
    • Directions
    • Lakewood Ranch
    • Forum Archive
    • Potluck Sunday
    • Schedule of Musicians
    • Virtual Church 2021
    • Virtual Church 2020
    • Sermon Archive 2020
    • Sermon Archive 2019
    • Sermon blog 2019
    • Sermon Archive 2014-2018
    • Sermon Archive 2011-2013
    • Discovery and Discussion Archive
    • General Assembly 2021
    • General Assembly 2020
    • Annual Meeting
  • Our Church
    • Directions
    • Newsletter
    • We'll Carry On Together
    • Calendar
    • Minister and Staff
    • Rev. Dr. Doug Wadkins bio
    • Rev. Roger Fritts Minister Emeritus
    • Lakewood Ranch Congregation
    • Architecture
    • Archives - Church History
    • Art Gallery in Lexow Wing
    • Arts Council
    • Authors' Showcase
    • Board of Trustees
    • Board Minutes
    • Breeze Directory
    • Brief History
    • Church Documents
    • Community Ministers
    • Committees
    • Covid Updates
    • Flea Market >
      • Flea Market Bakers Sign up
    • From the Garden Gate
    • Giving
    • Korond Partner Church >
      • Korond Updates
      • The Village of Korond, Transylvania
      • Our Relationship with the Korond Congregation
      • The Ministers and Their Family
    • Members' Corner
    • Member Directory
    • Multimedia Guidelines
    • Scams
    • Serendipity Raffle
    • Thanksgiving Photos
    • UUs in the News
    • Valentines Luncheon
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Zoom
  • Minister Search
    • Rev. Jay Wolin
    • Timeline
    • Search Committee Updates
    • Our covenants
    • Congregational Survey and Focus Groups
  • Children
    • Religious Education Overview
    • RE News
    • RE Calendar
    • Family Events
    • Photo Gallery
    • Meet our Staff and Teachers
  • Music
    • Music Program
    • Our Choir >
      • Videos for rehearsal
    • Gallery of Musicians
    • Love Stories of Our Musicians
    • Schedule of Musicians
    • Our hymns
    • Mindy Simmons
  • Social Justice
    • Ukraine response
    • Welcome Justice Seekers
    • UUSC - UU Service Committee
    • Racial Justice Program >
      • RJ Get Educated
      • RJ Take Action
      • Racial Justice Reading Program
      • Manasota Anti-Racism Coalition
      • RJ Glossary
      • RJ Resources
      • The 8th Principle
    • GREEN TEAM PAGES >
      • Upcoming Events
      • Eating Sustainably
      • Veg Restaurants
      • Farmers Markets
    • Activist Corner >
      • FedStateLocalContacts
      • Gun Control Activism
    • Community Partners
    • Fair Trade Program >
      • What is Fair Trade?
    • Justice in Action >
      • Get out the vote rally
    • Volunteer
  • Adult Programs
    • Bridge for Fun
    • Chalice Groups
    • Cinema Conversations
    • Chair Yoga
    • Death Cafe
    • Forum
    • Garden Crew
    • Getting to Know You
    • Great Decisions Group
    • LGBTQ
    • Men's Groups
    • Mindfulness
    • Spirituality
    • Small Group Ministry >
      • Sample Session Outlines
    • Tai Chi
    • Veterans Discussion Group
    • Women's Book Club
    • Women's Discussion Group
    • Zen Study Group
  • Small Group Ministry2

Stealing money
from well-meaning people

Our ministers do not solicit contributions via email. Here is a scam email recently received by one of our members. Our Unitarian Universalist Association also has information on this subject...  
​This one was received November 8, 2021, and included a picture of Doug copied from our website. The email address is fraudulent, but looks official. The church address is public information:

Picture
Many Blessings
​

Rev. Dr. Doug Wadkins <revdrdougwadkinss@gmail.com> to me

Good Morning, how are you doing?

I need a favor from you, email me as soon as you get this message.

God Bless 
Rev. Dr. Doug Wadkins
​

Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota
3975 Fruitville Road,
Sarasota FL 34232

Here are some previous ones:

From: Rev Roger Fritts <[the scammer used a bogus email account with Roger's name in it]>
This email even included a picture of Roger.

Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 11:00 AM
Subject: PEACE BE WITH YOU
To: [member's email address]

  Hello How are you doing?
I need a favor from you message me as soon as you get this

God Bless  
Rev. Roger Fritts 
-------------------------------------------------
Our member sent the following reply:
From: [member's name and email address] 
Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 11:02 AM
Subject: Re: PEACE BE WITH YOU
To: Rev Roger Fritts <[Roger's bogus email address]>

Message? How? I can text you. What's the number?
------------------------------------------------
Which generated this response, probably automatically generated when the member replied to the scam email. Notice that the response does not answer the member's question.

from: Rev Roger Fritts <[Roger's bogus email address]>
to: [member's name and email address] 
date:Mar 16, 2020, 11:07 AM
subject:Re: PEACE BE WITH YOU

Thanks for getting back to me [member's name] , Am in meeting right now , and can not make calls , and due to my busy schedule, I can not get things done myself , 

I just need to get Steam card  or eBay today for some women going through cancer at the hospital but I can't do that right now because of my busy schedule.

Can you get it from any store around you?  and I will pay you back later in cash or check. 
Let me know if you can get the card for these patients.

God Bless
-----------------------------------------------
The member replied with this:
From: [member's email address]
Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 12:33 PM
Subject: Re: PEACE BE WITH YOU
To: Rev Roger Fritts <[Roger's bogus email address]>

How do I get a Steam card or eBay?
----------------------------------------------------
and got this response. Notice that the intended victim is again promised to be paid back. 

from: Rev Roger Fritts <[Roger's bogus email address]>
Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: PEACE BE WITH YOU
to: [member's name and email address] ​

Ok good I will be so glad if you can get the for me.There are 10 of the women 
but I'm thinking of $500 worth of Steam Gift card  or eBay gift Card only for 5 for now, ($100 or $50 denomination each. That's 5 cards of $100 each).

Steam Gift card or eBayCard can be get at Best Buy, Kroger, Walmart or Target Store , and get it activated at the point of buying 

Am out of the parish office for a pressing meeting. I only need you to scratch the cards, then take a SNAP SHOT of the back each showing the PIN and have them sent to me here so I'll just forward to them easily. 

Will you be able to get the card for the patients right away?

Please let me know if that's okay with you. 

Also don't forget to let me know if you would want me to pay you
back the $500 in cash or check
-------------------------------------------------
Had the member bought the gift cards and followed the email instructions, the scammer would have cashed the gift cards. The member would never have heard from the scammer again and would never have received any money back.

​Our ministers do not solicit donations by email.  Roger is contacting the email service provider about this. But it's likely to happen again with a different email address. Especially if the scammer was successful. 
Visitor's Page
​Members Corner

Weekly CONTACT Newsletter
Church Calendar
Music Schedule
Upcoming Services
Adult Programs
Serendipity Auction
​Religious Education for Children and Youth
Green Team Pages
Arts Council
Social Justice
Art Gallery in Lexow Wing
Our association: the UUA
Find other UU congregations
Copyright © 2022 All Rights Reserved. Links are encouraged. Contact Admin for permission to publish.
Contact info:
3975 Fruitville Road, Sarasota FL 34232
Tel. 941-371-4974
Office hours are 10am to 2pm Tuesday - Friday

Click here for more contact information...
Thank you to our many volunteers who contribute to this website.
Most have no prior web editing experience. Weebly makes this easy, which is why
​we recommend Weebly to non-profits dependent on volunteers. Read more at Introduction to Weebly...