NavList:

Some of you probably received an email in the past few hours with a subject line including the phrase "Happy Easter". It will appear to have been sent from an established NavList member. Note that this has nothing to with NavList messages or emails. I must emphasize that there is no issue with or threat from NavList messages. You would only have received this "Happy Easter" email if you have previously communicated with the "established NavList member" by private email.

The email you received asks for a "small favor" and a reply to the email. Do not reply! If you look closely, you'll see that the "Reply-to" address in the email is not what it should be. The "From" address on the email is correct, but that is easily spoofed (you can enter more or less anything you want), and this is one of those major flaws in the entire edifice of internet email that I alluded to recently. If you reply, normally your message will go to that misleading, misdirecting "Reply-to" address, and you will then become a target for a scam. Usually, this scam involves a request for wired money because, supposedly, the person you think you know, who apparently sent the email, is "stuck" somewhere (maybe they'll tell a story about a stolen wallet and a hotel bill for hundreds of dollars that needs to be paid or otherwise the poor guy will be hauled off to jail... oh no!!). Do not fall for it. It's a con.

And do not email the perpetrator calling them out. If you reply at all, you will be added to a list of likely "marks", and they will come for you, again and again and again. Just delete the email. Or if your own email provider has a facility to report a phishing scam, you can report it to them. Unfortunately, no one really cares about this sort of crime on the internet anymore, and the people who could stop all this in the industry have decided that gullible people are not their problem and maybe deserve to be crime victims. Sad really... This is the internet in 2024.

Frank Reed
Clockwork Mapping / ReedNavigation.com
Conanicut Island USA

PS: I should add that the scammer attempted to target the NavList group collectively. Naturally I did not let that happen.