We have received alerts both locally and nationally which involved synagogue email accounts being spoofed so it appears that the recipient received an email from a synagogue email address, when in reality it is sent from a fake address.
While most of us have come across this type of scam, in these particular cases, emails that initially appear to be from synagogue addresses were used and the recipients were asked for gift cards or a bank transfer.
What you can do: Please look at the email address of the email. All Temple emails come from an email ending only in @shaariemeth.org. Emails from addresses such as shaariemeth@gmail.com, rabbi.Panken@aol.com, for example, are not legitimate email addresses. Please do not forward these emails to avoid spreading a virus. Do not click on any links in suspicious emails. The best thing to do is to permanently delete these emails.
Please note that as a general rule the goal of these culprits is to get people to disclose personal information by making it appear that an email is from somebody you are likely to trust. Please become familiar with this advice from the Federal Trade Commission on How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams.
