In the past couple of years, the BCGEU has seen an increase in the number of fraudulent, or phishing, emails being sent to BCGEU members.

Often, these emails look like they come from someone at the BCGEU. In other circumstances, the scammers have taken information off the BCGEU website and have attempted to impersonate component or local executive members.

In many of these cases, the scammers are asking other BCGEU members to send them money, either by an e-transfer or other means (such as a request to purchase gift cards), on their behalf.

To be clear: The BCGEU will never email you to ask for an e-transfer or for any form of money.

Unfortunately, we have had a member recently fall victim to one of these scams. As a result, we want to advise you of best practices to stay safe online.

1. Check for an @bcgeu.ca email address in the "From:" line of the email

Any email you receive from the BCGEU will have an @bcgeu.ca email address in the "From:" line. Here is an example of a fraudulent email:



Here is another example, this time asking to install software.



While this email looks legitimate, it is not. You can see from the "From:" email that this does not come from Microsoft. In addition, software companies will never email asking you to upgrade your software. Anytime an email asks you to install something, you should assume that it is fraud.

2. Confirm request using existing contact information

If anyone emails you asking for money, make sure you call or text that person to confirm the request is real. Do not assume any email asking for money is real until you have confirmed with the person by using contact information that you already have. Do not trust a phone number listed within the email and do not reply to the email you received. If you don't have the person's phone number, then you don't know them well enough to send them money.

3. Assume any email requesting personal information is fraudulent

In general, it is best to assume that any email that asks you for personal information is fraudulent. For instance, the BCGEU will not email you to ask for any personal information – instead we would ask you to login into the Member Portal (my.bcgeu.ca) to update any information. If you receive an email from the BCGEU asking for you to update information through a website, make sure that it links you to a website that ends in .bcgeu.ca, like my.bcgeu.ca.

4. Update passwords directly, not via links

Finally, a common fraudulent email we have seen is one asking you to update your password. This type of email is a bit more difficult to be sure about, because this is something many online services will commonly ask you to do. The best way to be sure that you do not inadvertently provide your password to a scammer is to simply go to the online service in your web browser and login. Do not click the link in the email you received. If the service wants you to change your password, you will be prompted to do so upon logging in.

For more information about staying safe online, please consult the Government of Canada's websites:
- https://cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/spotting-malicious-email-messages-itsap00100
- https://cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/dont-take-bait-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-attacks 

UWU/MoveUP