How to spot an email scam

Written By Joy Peters

It’s an unfortunate fact that scammers will target any organization that has a website - even churches.

Because we post our email addresses on our website, scammers will sometimes send emails imitating members of our leadership team, hoping to trick someone into sending them money, or, more often, a gift card. This is called phishing. The Diocese has had similar scams attempted.

If you get an email from someone at the church or Diocese that you’re not expecting, and that looks suspicious, there are some easy ways to confirm it’s authenticity.

  • you don’t recognize the sender’s name, email address, or phone number (e.g. very common for spear phishing)

  • you notice a lot of spelling and grammar errors

  • the sender requests your personal or confidential information, or asks you to log in via a provided link

  • the sender makes an urgent request with a deadline

  • the offer sounds too good to be true

If you’re still not sure, contact Joy in the church office.

To learn more about phishing, and how to spot it and avoid it, check out the articles below:

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/spot-and-stop-phishing-email-175057.htm

https://www.securitymetrics.com/blog/7-ways-recognize-phishing-email

https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/dont-take-bait-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-attacks

Joy Peters
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