A person was able to access Cunningham’s e-mail account and sent the note to nearly everyone on her e-mail list. That’s about 1,200 people, Cunningham estimated.
”It’s been really embarrassing,” Cunningham said. “People have called thinking I’ve been held hostage in England and was forced to send this message. It’s been crazy. I’ve had lots of phone calls and e-mails from people.”
Cunningham, who was first alerted to the e-mail by her daughter, who called her about 6:30 a.m. Thursday, said she was thankful no one seemed to have wired money, like the e-mail requested.
She believes the person was able to access her account when she provided her e-mail login and password to what she thought was a request from Google customer service.
There have been phishing scams out there for what, ten years? Get a clue, girl. Makes you wonder about how many other areas of life’s reality elude her. Or more to the point, elude the pastorate in general, right on up to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Well, maybe in that last case I don’t wonder any more. The core issue is the lack of real-world experience — and academia most decidedly does not count — amongst those apparently called to lead the church.
Bart I wasn’t singling her out so much and singling out the schemes. It is very easy to succcumb to them if you are not paying attention.
eVEN Ben Bernanke, you may know, was “Victimized by [an] Identity Fraud Ring:”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/213696
Agree entirely. I’m not on her case in particular. She’s a vignette or a ‘poster child’ not only for phishing, but for the phenomenal naivete of way too many people in the pastorate. So many (far from all) are of the visionary, feeling, helping sort, but largely ignorant about how the world works. A few start making idiotic pronouncements; a lot more simply do not comprehend the daily struggles of their parishioners. It’s the strongest argument against a celibate priesthood.
My favorite pastor in the last 40 years was a part-time guy in a mostly rural diocese who supported himself as a CPA doing the books for dozens of down-to-earth small businesses. He always told them to play things straight, even when it hurt. I know of one case in which he contributed money out of his own pocket to help a guy make payroll after getting stiffed by a customer.
I truly believe we need a lot more of that in the church if we are to be an effective presence in this world.
I am pretty used to getting these things. I got one recently from my email provider which meant I had to really do a double-take. Some of them are really very convincing. A close check of the web address of the message confirmed the need for caution.
I don’t think she is particularly naive, at least any more than the rest of us. Any of us can be duped. I think she is brave for having owned up and allowed the rest of us to learn from it as well.
Well, I’ll fess up and admit that I was similarly duped and conned a couple years ago. Fortunately, none of my freinds were fooled either by the crook angling for easy money, but it sure was a hassle, and a big embarrassment. Worse yet, it was surprisingly hard to correct. You see, in my case the fellow completely hijacked my account, changed the password, and thus I no longer had access to my own email addressbook. That made it lots harder to notify all my friends to ignore the bogus appeal for money. And I had difficulty convincing my email provider to close the account because of the fraud. Then I had to notify everyone of my new email address. What a pain!
So thanks, Kendall and Pageanmaster, for noting that it’s all too easy to be taken in. But Bart still has a valid point. A lot of us clergy are regrettably naive.
However, didn’t the Master say something about how the children of this owrld are wiser in worldly dealings than the children of light? (see Luke 16:8, wink).
Anyway, it’s a horrible thing when such a scam happens to you. I wouldn’t wish it on an enemy. So it’s good to be reminded NEVER to give out password info when it’s requested, no matter how legit the source may appear.
David Handy+
Who was that reasserter bishop a year or two back that wrote a letter on a public computer with inside information on it, then turned off the monitor when he was done? Promptly leaked and actively disseminated everywhere. Got some attention on SF.