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A new scam

Joined
Jul 5, 2015
Messages
383
Likes
3,568
Location
Strongsville, Ohio
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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