[RE-wrenches] Admin: spam / illicit links coming to list members

[Michael Welch]

Hello Wrenches. If you have any questions about this, please contact me off list.

Some of you have been emailed spam / links that look like they might be coming from the Wrench List. They are intended to deceive you into thinking they are legitimate messages.

These emails are NOT coming from the list. I suspect that one of the Wrench members has an email account that has been compromised, and a nefarious person is emailing spam or links to people that the compromised member has in their email system or address book, and that could include many of you.

One way to tell that the illicit messages are not coming from the list is that all email from the list comes from the official address: <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>.

The examples a couple of you have sent me are coming from, for example,
"RE-wrenches <xxxxxxxxxx at someotherhost>"

The illicit messages contain a link that, I assume, will put your email account also at risk. Most of you know that you shouldn't click links when you are not certain of the origination of the email. This admin message is intended to reinforce that basic email strategy.

I normally consider messages to the list about spam or viruses to be off-topic. But I am making an exception for this admin note because I suspect that several of you are also getting the illicit messages that marginally appear like they are coming from the Wrench list.

Again, if you'd like to discuss this further or want to let me know that you also are a recipient of these spam/virus messages, please contact me off list. 

Thanks for all you do, and I am sorry for any illicit messages you may receive. Just don't click, and the nefarious efforts will be nothing more than a nuisance.