Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, V.R. Legoyda, said that fraudsters, including those operating from neighboring countries, have intensified their attempts to use the name of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for their own purposes.
"Fraudsters stop at nothing and try to mislead clergy and laity by informing them of certain decisions allegedly coming from His Holiness the Patriarch," said the representative of the Church.
According to him, such pretexts as the alleged decision on a church award, ordination, charity fees and much more are used for manipulation.
"No matter how communication with such a fraudster begins, it most often ends with the same thing — a request to transfer funds," said the head of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media.
"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that for internal and external communications, any information is transmitted through persons specially authorized by the Primate of the Russian Church and the Holy Synod. All significant decisions are published on official church resources. In case of any doubts, and especially extortion of funds, it is worthwhile to immediately contact the relevant synodal institutions, the diocesan authorities, as well as law enforcement agencies," concluded V.R. Legoyda.