The Scammers/Phishers Are at It Again with an Email Supposedly from Rev. Diana

Oldies are apparently goodies, even to email scammers. 

Going way back to at least 2019, email phishing attempts have been targeting our congregation (and many other church congregations across the nation) with a variety of scam approaches. The earliest of these reaching our congregation, and one that has been repeated many times since then, was an email that appeared to come from our minister (later senders have also masqueraded as other well-known church officials or members), asking the recipient for some discreet help, with a requested response via email because the sender is very busy and about to go into a meeting. And people who replied to the message were invariably asked for help purchasing and sending gift cards to the original author, or to church members in need of help.

So we knew what was up immediately when several church members received this email earlier today:

Blessings,
Rev. Diana Smith

This message is, indeed, almost word-for-word identical to multiple phishing attempts received by members of our congregation over the last 7 or 8 years or so. And while many people were wary of it, Rev. Diana has been an official member of our staff for less than two weeks, so while people might have been more suspicious if they had received this from one of our past, more well known, ministers, whose writing style they were more familiar with, they might have been very wary of this note.  But people are still getting to know Rev. Diana, and they’re not as familiar with her communications style, so they might have been less sure if this one was a real or fake request.

We can say unequivocally however, that it – like all of its similar predecessors – is a fake. And it shares many characteristics with those previous phishing attempts. For example:

• Non-UUSM “from” address. The message comes from smithrevdiana@gmail.com.  Please remember that, as always, official messages from church personnel come from @uusm.org addresses. Not GMail addresses. And, yes, since the day Rev. Diana began her service with us, she has had a uusm.org address – minister@uusm.org.  So always look at the “from” address in a suspicious message – it’s your best and biggest clue to its legitimate or illegitimate origin.
• Odd syntax. While our ministers and other church staff are human and make occasional grammatical mistakes or compose an awkward sentence just like anyone else from time to time, most phishing messages contain at least one or two examples of odd syntax that may not be grammatically incorrect but just sound “off.” In this message there are a couple of these – “are you less busy at the moment?” and “I have a request for you to manage confidentially.” Neither of these are phrases that trip easily off the tongue or sound like something someone would say in an informal, personal note to someone they know well (or at least well enough to request a private favor from).
• Request for an email reply instead of something more immediate and personal. To keep the recipient from replying to the actual minister (or other well known supposed sender) via text or phone, which would reach the real person and give away the ruse, the scammer asks for reply by email (to the fake address in the “from” line) because they are supposedly unreachable at the moment. That way, the response goes to them and they can escalate the charade.
• Escalating requests. If someone does reply to the original note, they will probably get a response asking them to buy something (usually a gift card) and send it to someone in need. So if this happens to you, and you haven’t already backed off and dropped out of the conversation, this is definitely the time to do it. Requests that involve spending your own money for something related to the church are ALWAYS always the mark of a scam.

For more information on church email scams (in addition to gift card and wire transfer requests, there are also common requests for a .pdf copy of the church directory), just do a Google search for “church email scams.” You’ll receive a wide variety of links, from churches in many denominations, outlining their experiences and advice.

Also, whenever in doubt about an odd message you may receive, supposedly from someone affiliated with our church, don’t be afraid to do what the scammer specifically requests that you not do – ask the person via a quick note to their real uusm.org address, or via text or phone, whether they sent the original email.  We can assure you that the answer will almost always confirm that the initial communication was a fake.