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Phishing Red Flags
Dear Parish Families,
I would like to share some information with you about being secure online.
Unfortunately, church employees and parishioners are not exempt from being the target of a common phishing scheme. Phishing is just like it sounds, someone sends you an email, or a text, or maybe even calls you and pretends to be someone you know or trust. The email, text or phone call will often contain a sense of urgency and ask you to do something as innocent as to contact them or click on a link.
Specifically, at St. Joseph the Worker, some people have received emails and sometimes texts pretending to be Fr. Mike asking for help. When a person responds, they are then asked to purchase gift cards, and often just send the codes from the back of them. Unfortunately once this happens, the whole transaction is untraceable and there is no way to get your money back.
We want you to know that Fr. Mike (and other employees) will NEVER ask you for gift cards over email. When in doubt, call the parish office first.
How do I know it is fake (phishing)?
1. If you can hover over or expand the email address, you will see that it is not Mike's email address. As in the blue text in the images above.
2. These emails give a sense of urgency - be suspicious!
3. It asks you to respond to the email.
4. If in doubt - call the parish office.