In the past couple of weeks, congregations and synods around the ELCA have experienced another round of email spoofing and scams. View a message from Bishop Satterlee about email scams:
In these scams, bad actors create email new addresses and pretend to be people you know (ex: Bishop Satterlee or your congregation’s pastor). Oftentimes the email addresses are created using Gmail. Anyone can create a Gmail account using any name. Bishop Satterlee does not have a Gmail account and will not contact you in this way.
As part of this email scam, the bad actors send an email asking for help “discreetly” or “privately”. These scams ultimately result in the bad actors asking you to send them money or gift cards.
Again, Bishop Satterlee and the Synod Staff will not contact you in this way. Please do not respond to these emails or send any money or gift cards.
We have posted additional information about email spoofing, email scams, and internet security on the Synod website. We invite you to read these resources regularly. If you suspect you have received a fraudulent email from Bishop Satterlee or a member of the Synod Staff, please contact the Synod Office and do not send any money or gift cards.
Review Resources: https://www.mittensynod.org/internet-security/