FBI on Internet scam

Date: August 15, 2006
Source: mlive.com
By: Chris Meehan

The FBI is investigating an Internet identity-theft scam -- known commonly as ``phishing'' -- in which money was stolen from a parish account at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Portage, according to officials at the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo.

The church declined to disclose how much money is involved in the theft or to provide specifics of the scheme for fear of jeopardizing the FBI probe, said Brent King, director of communications for the diocese.

``This involves account numbers that were taken,'' King said. ``When the thieves tried to use them, it threw up red flags,'' and the parish notified authorities.

FBI officials in Detroit said they could not comment on whether they were investigating the case.

Catherine Mangarelli, parish administrator, said no one in the parish is involved in the theft. She said it appears the fraud was perpetrated by people from outside of the Kalamazoo area.
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