Oklahoma Pastors Could Be Target Of Scam

By Craig Day, The News On 6

COLLINSVILLE, OK -- An email scam may be targeting church ministers.

Someone hacked into Carl Harris' email account and sent out bogus message to every address he had saved.

The hackers sent an email from his account with the words "robbed, gunpoint, stuck in London and don't have enough money to get home."

"I received about 300 calls wanting to know how I got to England and where do I send the money," said Harris, scam victim.

Turns out, the Collinsville Church of Christ minister wasn't in England, he was in Idabel, Oklahoma.

"I started getting call after call after call after call," said Harris.

Now, he's scrambling to let everyone know at the church and online, it's a scam, and he and his wife are fine.

"It makes you angry, but anger doesn't get the job done. You just have to back up, settle down and get to work," said Harris.

Harris hopes no one responds to the email to find out where to send money.

"It's interesting how many people do care, but wow! I just hope somebody hasn't sent a bunch of money to England to get me back over here," he said.

It gets worse. The hacker also deleted Harris' email list with about 600 emails addresses on it. Now he's using his old day planner to try to get in touch with everyone.

The News On 6 has heard of some other Oklahoma ministers being victims.

Harris thinks they may be targeted because many do mission work, which gives the whole London claim more credibility," Harris said.