The Archdiocese of Mérida – Badajoz (Spain) warned about a “fraudulent activity” in which “assumptions scammers” make phone calls to ask for money, supplanting artificial intelligence the voice of the archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo.
In a communication Published on its website this Saturday, July 26, the Archdiocese alerts these attempts to “capture money that are being carried out” and “seek to deceive people requesting donations for religious and social campaigns.”
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
“The Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz wishes to clarify that at no time the archbishop, or any member of the diocesan curia, makes requests for economic aid by telephone, or through digital or telematic means. Any request for help of that nature will always be communicated personally and directly, and never by calls,” says the statement.
“This type of calls constitute a fraud or fraud, in which criminals seek to take advantage of the good will of people, usurping the identity of the archbishop or its collaborators to obtain economic or material benefits,” the text continues.
In that sense, the archdiocese asks the faithful to ignore these calls and immediately denounce them to the competent authorities.
In addition, the statement indicates, “it is requested to inform the archdiocese to be able to take the corresponding measures and collaborate in the prevention of these illegal practices.”
To conclude, “the Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz appreciates everyone’s collaboration to maintain security and confidence in our pastoral work.”
Alerts from Madrid and Seville
On July 21, the Archbishopric of Madrid published A note in which he warned of “possible telephone scams” and said that “at no time Mr. Cardinal (Cobo), Vicar General, Ecónomo or any other person of the Archbishopric will call parishes or houses of religious communities by phone asking that a money transfer be made, requesting sensitive information or personal data.”
A few days before, the Archdiocese of Seville alerted the Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of a scam attempt through the use of artificial intelligence that simulated the voice of the auxiliary bishop, Mons. Teodoro León Muñoz.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.