The Diocese of St. Petersburg has become aware that people are impersonating Bishop Parkes on Instagram and asking for money via private and direct messaging features. Bishop Parkes does not contact individuals on social media using the private message feature of Instagram. Please block and report any suspicious activity to Instagram and do not respond.

• Bishop Parkes’ official Instagram account is: https://www.instagram.com/bishopparkes/.
• Bishop Parkes’ official Facebook page is: facebook.com/bishopparkes
• Bishop Parkes’ official Twitter is: https://twitter.com/bishopparkes.

Bishop Parkes does not contact individuals via private or direct messaging on social media. Please report any suspicious activity to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and do not respond.

Follow these tips from the Federal Trade Commission and protect yourself from hoaxes, email scams and phishing (when internet fraudsters mimic a legitimate individual, organization or business to trick consumers into giving out their personal information or money).

• Be Aware! Legitimate organizations would never solicit sensitive personal information through insecure channels such as email, social media messaging or text messaging.
• Ignore suspicious emails, social media and text messages from someone who claims to need your personal information or financial assistance.
• To verify the legitimacy of an email, social media message or text message that you receive from any organization, including a church, call the office and speak to a representative who can assist.

10 Things You Can Do To Avoid Becoming a Victim of Fraud

Visit this website to learn about protecting your family online, visit www.faithandsafety.org.