The pastor of Hubbard's St. Patrick's Church has issued a warning not to fall for a scam using the parish to target generous people.

The church's Facebook page has a message telling parishioners that there are emails and texts purporting to be from Father Michael Swierz.

According to the social media post, the messages are asking for money or gift cards claiming to be for charities.

Swierz warns that the requests are fraudulent and asks people not to reply to them in any way.

The pastor says he would never ask for donations through emails or texts.