April 27, 2020
There have been multiple calls and emails over the last week about fake emails from the Bishop. His account was not hacked, instead, someone is creating Gmail accounts to make it look like it was from him so they can try to scam people out of money.
If you get an email from the Bishop, it will be from his conference email (bishoppark@susumc.org) and not some generic Gmail account. Two examples of fake email addresses that we have seen in the last week are: jbishjeremiah@gmail.com and bishopjeremiahj@gmail.com.
This does not just go for the Bishop’s email. We have heard from a lot of churches that people received an email from the pastor asking for gift cards or help that was a scam.
This social engineering trick that scammers use has been around for an exceptionally long time, and sadly, we can do little to stop it. We file a complaint, but another email address is created, and messages are sent out all over again.
Attached is a Social Engineering pdf that explains what red flags to look for when getting an email. If anyone has any questions, please email us at support@susumc.org or call us at 717.766.7054.
Thanks,
Nate Smith
Director of IT Services