A new scam

[Michael Nathal]

Many in our club are getting an email with a request to donate to support the health care costs of a young girl in Oregon. Although at first glance it appears to be addressed from our club, the actual sender's address reveals it as a scam. My question is if others belonging to other clubs are seeing anything similar. Also, how did they get access to club members email addresses?

 

[Lamar Wright]

Thanks for the heads up Michael. Lot of that going in now......You have to really be aware of scams these days.

 

[Donna Banfield]

My guess is that club web pages, which are viewable by the public, typically include names and email addresses of club officers. Anyone/bot, searching for names/email addresses will pick those up. The only way to deal with this is to have club officer names/email addresses hidden unless you're a member. Sort of defeats the purpose of having an open and inviting environment...but this is the technological world in which we live

Some clubs have taken the step of using a general email address (not connected to a particular person) for informational purposes, such as how do I join, can I attend a meeting, etc. This is then monitored by specific club members assigned for this task.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I had to purchase a special program for my contact page on my website. I was getting hundreds of spam emails. You need something to fool the bots, prevent them from collecting your address. I have a very simple solution, you have to answer how much is 5 plus 5. So far, bots collecting emails can't answer that.

 

[Michael Nathal]

There was an older scam, last year I think, that many different clubs experienced. There are a couple of threads on this site covering that. As best I can tell, that one was restricted to AAW chapter officers. This new one is going to club members also.

 

[John Torchick]

I get junk emails all the time. My provider can't/won't block them; get an error message that they can't be blocked. I put them in spam but the keep appearing.