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Gotcha!
You just got scammed...
...but luckily just by me (Jerod).
I wanted to run this harmless test to hopefully prevent any real harm from happening in the future. We've seen an uptick in very credible sounding email scams as of late, I want to make sure you have the tools to combat these. Here are some tips (that I think you're required to read now that I've got you haha).
1. Verify emails! This is very simple to do. When you receive an email, go up to the top and check the actual email address that sent the email to you. DON'T JUST TRUST THE NAME YOU SEE! If it's illegitimate (example: churchadmistration325@gmail.com), mark the message as spam right away AND let me know about the message you received.
2. Be EXTREMELY cautious when clicking links in emails! Verifying the email is a good first defense, but being careful with links in emails is crucial. If someone's email was compromised, a scammer could easily use that email to send you a malicious link that could absolutely wreck your computer, expose personal data, etc. When in doubt, hover over the link to see where it's actually going. If that does't work, right click on the link, copy it, and paste it into a note to inspect it. If you ever have a question about one, please come ask. If it looks fishy, it probably is!
3. Verify, then trust. Trust your gut if you get an email or text that looks even the slightest bit off. And please, please ask someone to review it for you. If you get an email/message asking for confidentiality, for you not to bug them because they're busy, etc., just ignore it. Come ask Anson, myself, or one of the elders. Your safety (physical, financial, etc.) is worth "disobeying" something asked of you in an email.
4. Set up two-factor authentication on everything you can. This is a great line of defense against someone with ill intent ever getting into one of our emails, etc. Let me know if I can help you set that up.
Lastly, please don't feel (too) bad about landing on this page. I worked really hard to make the spam email as convincing as possible. But please continue to be diligent!