It has come to our attention that several parishioners received emails from Father John asking them to respond with information. These messages are a scam and are referred to as phishing emails.
We are taking the appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again, but we cannot do it alone. Please keep in mind the following guidelines to help overcome this issue.
BE VIGILANT
What is phishing?
Phishing is usually done through email, ads, or by sites that look similar to sites you already use. For example, someone who is phishing might send you an email that looks like it’s from your bank so that you’ll give them information about your bank account.
Be cautious if an email or site asks for:
- Usernames and passwords, including password changes
- Social Security numbers
- Bank account numbers
- PINs (Personal Identification Numbers)
- Credit card numbers
- Your mother’s maiden name
- Your birthday
When you get an email that looks suspicious, here are a few things to check for:
- Check that the email address and the sender name match.
- Check if the email is authenticated.
- Hover over any links before you click on them. If the URL of the link doesn’t match the description of the link, it might be leading you to a phishing site.
- Check the message headers to make sure the “from” header isn’t showing an incorrect name.
- Confirm with the sender via another method (call or text).
All parish wide e-mails that are truly from Father John are sent by Kathy Ford on his behalf. If Father John e-mails directly to you, it will be from a Resurrection e-mail that follows the same format as staff.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING
When you see a fraudulent email, you can and should report it to Google. This moves the email to spam, and prompts Google to investigate. Even if another staff person or parishioner has already reported it, report it again. Google will weight the issue based on the number of reports. Please let GCI know when you receive a phishing email as well, so we can be sure to block the offender.
PREVENTION (FOR OUR STAFF)
We ask that all staff change their email passwords and turn on 2-step verification immediately.
THANK YOU
If you have any questions, please contact Father John or Kathy Ford directly. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused you.
Some information sourced from Google.