Don't Fall for Whaling

Whaling is a form of pfishing known as whaling.  It doesn't just affect us!  The Diocese of Newark has recently had a series of these attacks and has published an article explaining the phenomenon and what you can do about it.  

"You receive an email that appears to be from the Bishop, or your clergy person, asking you to take some kind of action – click a link, download an attachment, wire money to a specified account, purchase gift cards and reply with the serial numbers, or simply to reply quickly.
Watch out – it could be a form of email “phishing” known as “whaling.”

"Whereas “phishing” involves sending a fraudulent email to a large group of people in the hope that a few will respond, “whaling” involves forging communications that look like they’re from the “big phish” in an organization, i.e. the “whale.” For us, this usually means the Bishop or a clergy person, although it could be someone else in authority.

"Because these emails are usually crafted more carefully than your standard “phishing” email, they can be more difficult to detect."

Read the whole article, but here are some brief suggestions about what to do:

• Verify the “from” email
• Confirm requests with a conversation

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Please know that no clergy person, Deacon Dot, your wardens or your Vestry would never make such a request. They will never ask for personal information, money, gift cards or anything else by email or on social media. Ignore any such request and, if possible, report it to your ISP as a fraud/scam.
One email looked like this:

I am not in the position to make a phone call at the moment as i am in a meeting and that is why i am contacting you via email. I will like you to help handle a personal matter. I would need you to help send out couple of gift cards to a family member in school concerning her project.and i will need this handled immediately. Kindly let me know if you are available to run this task right now so i can advise the quantity and domination.  

​Pay attention and stay safe!

Faithfully,