Phishing

Dear all,

The latest phishing attempt:

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From: Rev. Allen Doerksen <revfr2321@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2024 09:42
To: <verger@stphilipvictoria.ca>
Subject: St Philip Anglican Church

Hello,

Hope you have a wonderful night and what are your plans for today? I have a request for you to manage for me. I'll await your response!

Blessings,

Rev. Allen Doerksen

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It's spam of course: don't reply. When in doubt (and you should be in doubt!) four things you can check right away are:

1) Sender's email address - check for the address <inside angle brackets like this>. There may be a name as well, e.g.
St Philip Oak Bay <admin@stphilipvictoria.ca>
If they don't match, as in this example, Rev. Allen Doerksen <revfr2321@gmail.com>
that's not a good sign.

2) URL (web address, format http://www. whatever.ca) of any links in the message. Don't click on them, just move your mouse over the link to make the full address appear in a little popup box.

3) Language style and nature of the request - does it fit with what you know of the supposed sender and the usual way of doing things?

4) Lack of specific details - the sender is hoping you will assume it's genuine and read more into the message than is really there.

If you receive this kind of email, or others you find in any way odd, please read critically and:
1) Don't reply.
2) Don't click on any links or images in the email.
3) Don't open any attachments.
4) Delete the email.
5) If you are concerned about missing a genuine request, call the supposed sender on the phone, or write them a new email from scratch, at the email address you know is correct.
* If the email seems to come from a genuine address of someone you know, the address could have been hacked (broken into and used without authorization), so use the phone or a different way of getting in touch.

All that said, it is also worth occasionally checking your Junk or Spam email folder. Email filters are not perfect, and while they may let a phishing attempt like this into your Inbox, they do also sometimes send genuine emails straight to the Junk folder!