We often times hear of unsuspecting people being solicited from seemingly legitimate organizations, only to find out that it was a scam. So how would you know if you are receiving an email from our parish and it’s not a hoax? Here’s what to look for:
1. We NEVER request sensitive information via email- That includes passwords, credit cards, tax ID’s, credit scores, etc. Nor will we send you a link from which you will need to login.
2. Our emails ALWAYS come from our domain @stpatrickyorkville.org- If just the name of the sender appears in the “from” field (i.e. From: Fr. Matt), just move your mouse over his name WITHOUT clicking on it to reveal the actual sender’s email address.
3. We know how to spell- Scam emails are usually full of grammar and spelling errors. Any email from us will be well-written… Bad syntax is a dead giveaway.
4. We won’t force you to a website- Sometimes scam emails are coded entirely as a hyperlink- clicking ANYWHERE in the message takes you to a fake website, or downloads spam onto your computer.
5. We’ll never send you an unsolicited high-risk attachment- This isn’t foolproof, as sometimes we may send a pdf as a document, but we’ll NEVER send things like EXE, SCR or ZIP files. When in doubt about any attachment, please contact us directly at the office.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start. Scammers have gotten very good at fooling people by mimicking legitimate organizations via stealing logos from legitimate websites, stealing identities of legitimate personnel and titles, and hand-crafting emails. Stay vigilant!
