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, synagogue addresses were used and the recipients were asked for gift cards or a bank transfer.
What you can do: If you have a question about whether a particular email was actually sent from a temple email address (i.e. .....@shaariemeth.org) please copy and paste the email and send it to me. Please do not forward the email, to avoid spreading a virus. Likewise, do the same if you know the email is not legitimate. That will allow us to share any occurrences with our local and regional partners.
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.
