I received an email purporting to be from a chaplain associated with one of the emergency services. The email said:

I am a chaplain with [service name] …  Following a recent conversation, one of the [members] … explained to me that they made an enquiry to you about … [number of] years ago regarding [subject matter and link to post included] …

They have expressed that they feel incredibly embarrassed about having asked the question, going as far to admit that it still upsets them to think about it today. I am reaching out at their request, to ask if you could possibly remove the response post from your public page? …

I was torn. On the one hand I don’t like to delete my posts (see Blog content removed (May 17, 2021)) and I thought the post of concern was a good and useful post.  On the other hand, I don’t want to cause unnecessary grief, but talking about the law involves talking about difficult subjects and often involves telling people they’re wrong when they really want to be, or believe they are, right.  And when I’m reporting on cases I appreciate that I am making information more accessible to a wider audience.  Given the competing concerns I wanted to discuss with the chaplain whether some editing to further deidentify the source of the question would meet two competing objectives – ie to provide a public answer but to minimise the grief.  A quick google search brought up the chaplain’s phone number.

Imagine their surprise in receiving my call, and my surprise when they said they are no longer a chaplain for that service and have not been for many years.  They did not write the email and it did not come from their email address, but it did come from a Gmail address using their name, so someone has gone to significant lengths to impersonate them.  Possibly it’s the author of the original question who thought pretending to be a chaplain may have more impact than a direct approach? Perhaps it’s someone else?  Either way it is outrageous that anyone would attempt such subterfuge and I put this up here so that whoever wrote it knows that a) the email was received b) the fraud was discovered and c) the original post will remain. And if anyone thinks the original correspondent is, or should be, or might be ‘incredibly embarrassed’ by their question whoever wrote this email should be doubly so.  Rest assured, if I identify who they are, I will report them to the agency involved for improper conduct in impersonating a former service chaplain.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.