If you have a “church email,” that is, an email that ends with “@uuwinnipeg.mb.ca,” occasionally, you might receive email that seems suspicious. Maybe it’s asking for personal or account information, or it seems like it’s from someone in the church (like the minister) but the “tone” of the message seems wrong.

What to do if you receive an email you suspect

If you receive an email that you suspect to be spam (unwelcome/unsolicited advertising or email communication) or phishing (a request for information from you that contains a link or other method to gather that information), here are the steps you should take.

1. Examine the email

First, examine the “from” email address closely. You might have to click on the person’s name to view their email. For example, if the “from” says “minister,” and the from address is “minister.uuwpgchurch@gmail.com,” that’s not from our minister. Any email send from a real church address will end in “@uuwinnipeg.mb.ca.”

In this example (which is from a real email sent to a member of our board), the From address is @gmail.com, so it isn’t actually from Rev. Meghann. Other things that seem “off” are the message formatting (indenting) and content, which don’t seem “right.” Also, it’s signed “Pastor Meghann Robern” which isn’t how she signs her emails.

2. Don’t respond or click any links

If you think the email isn’t legit, do NOT click on any links or press Reply.

3. Mark the email as spam or phishing

When you mark an email as being spam or phishing, the sender’s email address is automatically added to a “blocked” list. After that, if any new mail is received from them, it won’t be distributed to the intended recipient.

To mark an email, select the More button at the top of the email and then select Report spam or Report phishing: