Beware of Scammers

We were recently notified of instances where ICF Chapters were the subject of a scam. We believe they have located ICF Chapters through our website, as well as going to the individual Chapter websites to get information. Most Chapters have an About Us or Board of Directors or Leadership page on their websites and Chapters who have been targeted seem to have personal information accessible from those pages (email addresses, full names, telephone numbers, etc.). We strongly encourage all Chapter leaders (especially Presidents and Treasurers) to exercise caution and double check any and all communications and expenditures that seem questionable or curious. If there is a logo that looks unusual in the email or an email address that contains extra or missing letters, it is most likely a scam. It is much better to be safe than sorry!

1. Best response to these is first and foremost not respond. Once they have a response they feel they have a “fish on the line” and will continue to try various measures to get what they can out of the contact. Continued silence will inspire them to move on.
2. For each person who received the message, it may also be useful to mark the email address as spam in your email client. This will block any additional attempts from this email address into the treasurer email address even as it may extend beyond the term of the individuals copied here. Board members may also want to set their spam filters high to block as much of this from coming through as possible.
3. Create a general contact request email address (such as info@ICFXXXXXXX.com) for the Chapter or a fillable information request form on the Chapter website to eliminate publishing personal email contacts for your officers.
4. Be diligent about changing your passwords on your email accounts if this happens to you.
5. Be careful about opening attachments you weren’t expecting from people you do not know that look suspect.
6. Use firewalls and antivirus software.
7. Encrypt emails that contain sensitive information.
8. As for best practice, also extending the knowledge of these attempts into future generations of chapter leadership. If not currently in place, identify a verification process for requests for funds.
   1. Perhaps it is a two-check verification system utilizing other communication tools.
   2. Perhaps also requiring two individuals to sign off on requests over a certain dollar amount.
   3. Perhaps having a code word that changes regarding releasing or transferring funds.