For the past few years, Board members have been receiving "phishing" emails: false messages asking for favors. Unfortunately, it appears that more and more members are receiving them, too.

Don't think twice: go ahead and delete any email that says it comes from a present or former MSBA president, treasurer, or other officer!

There is also good information online about how to recognize phishing attempts from the Federal Trade Commission.

MSBA will never, ever ask you to perform such a task or provide any type of resource in this way. Period.

Most of us have received at least a couple these messages: emails that say they are from someone who serves (or used to serve) on the MSBA Board, who wants you to contact them or obtain something for them. Apparently, small associations such as ours are an increasingly popular target for these thieves: they know we are staffed with volunteers, that people rotate in and out of positions, and that our technology is not the latest.

These emails do not originate with MSBA or any computer, server, or service we use, and we cannot block them for you. We report them as soon as we see them to the originating service or site, but we cannot guarantee immediate action.

The emails are meant to convince you to send money, gift cards, or some other source of value, purportedly to help with a problem. These thieves can be crafty, and some of the emails are convincing. One great way to check, if you are not sure, is to click on the "From" address, and see if it matches a known address for a member of our board. The real addresses are available on this website.

It is ALWAYS ok for you to forward such a message to one of us, if you want to check. Do not reply, and be sure to use an email address you have previously used to connect with that person.

If the "From" is a gmail address, we suggest that you forward it to abuse@gmail.com with the subject line "FRAUD." Quick reporting seems to get such accounts shut down relatively soon.

Once again, we are sorry for the inconvenience and confusion such messages can cause, and we are keeping our eyes open for good solutions that may emerge!

[Return to November 2024 BeeLine newsletter]