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Last week, many of you received emails that claimed to be from Meg and/or Jarrett, requesting help. Those emails were a scam known as "email spoofing," in which scammers create fake email addresses and pretend to be real people in an attempt to get their friends to send money to them.
Here are a few things to know:
1.) We are not unique. This scam has happened to countless churches over the past few years, using almost identical messages each time.
2.) Your information is safe. We have checked into our email and database systems, and there are no signs of hacking. Scammers often use sophisticated programs to scan the internet (including internet archives) to pull together eerily accurate email lists, and we suspect they did the same here.
Also, if you did engage with the scammers (but didn't send them money/gift cards), you were not hacked. Those interactions only confirmed for the scammers that you do know Meg and/or Jarrett. (Of course, it's always a good idea to add two-factor authentication to your email and periodically change your password, just in case!)
3.) UPC staff will always email you from an address that ends in @upcch.org, and will never ask you to email us a gift card. We have safe and trusted ways to give online that we will always point to.
4.) We are grateful for you! The number of you that responded out of a desire to help and/or called us to let us know you thought something fishy was happening is a sign of this congregation's deep generosity and care for this community. It grieves us that scammers attempted to prey upon that generosity for their own gain.
Unfortunately, email spoofing can't be prevented, but we can educate ourselves to be better able to spot scams in the future. See the graphic below to learn more.
And, if you did send money or gift cards to the scammers, please let us know so we can connect you with helpful resources.
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