Bishop of The Anglican Church of The South Has Account Hacked, Used For A Scam

In October last year, the Rt. Rev. Foley Beach was consecrated as the first Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South in front of nearly 800 people, including Archbishop Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church of North America.

Thursday night his Gmail account was hacked and his name used to try and scam thousands of people out of their money.

“The first time I heard about it was 7:30 a.m. (Friday) morning when my phone started ringing off the hook with people phoning to let me know I’d been hacked,” Beach said, adding unfortunately some of the calls were from people checking that he was actually okay.

The scammers used Beach’s Gmail account to send out an email from him claiming to have been mugged while in London. It claimed he had been held up at gun point and all his belongings – cash, cell phone and credit cards – stolen. The email gives a supposed hotel desk phone number in London and a request to send money to help him fly back home because his bank can’t get him the money for two to four working days. Foley’s assistant said the unfortunate thing is it wouldn’t be out the realm of possibility for Beach to be in London since his position in the church requires him to travel extensively. The email correctly lists his church rectory as The Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville and many people who received the scam letter were Loganville residents, including Walton County Commissioner Chuck Bagley. It is not known whether only contacts in his email were victims of the scam attempt or others as well.

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