spurious "Inspiration from ..." email message

[rmrichesjr]

My primary email inbox received a message today that it should not have received. These lines are from the header (with my email address and the numeric part of the message ID redacted):

Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2022 11:53:29 -0500 (CDT)
From: Inspiration from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints <Communication@message.ChurchofJesusChrist.org>
Reply-To: emailreply@ChurchofJesusChrist.org
Message-ID: <...@sjmktmail-batch1a.marketo.org>
Subject: How can making and keeping covenants strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ?

From the Church Account subscriptions page, the "Inspiration" box is _NOT_ checked. The only boxes that are checked are "My Calling" and "Official Communication Library".

Does the Church use marketo.org to send their messages? Or, is somebody else sending spoofed messages?

[garystroble]

My primary email inbox received a message today that it should not have received. These lines are from the header (with my email address and the numeric part of the message ID redacted):

Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2022 11:53:29 -0500 (CDT)
From: Inspiration from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints <Communication@message.ChurchofJesusChrist.org>
Reply-To: emailreply@ChurchofJesusChrist.org
Message-ID: <...@sjmktmail-batch1a.marketo.org>
Subject: How can making and keeping covenants strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ?

From the Church Account subscriptions page, the "Inspiration" box is _NOT_ checked. The only boxes that are checked are "My Calling" and "Official Communication Library".

Does the Church use marketo.org to send their messages? Or, is somebody else sending spoofed messages?

Seeing the same thing here re: marketo.org

It also gave me an option to change my preferences on headquarters emails.

[rmrichesjr]

Seeing the same thing here re: marketo.org

It also gave me an option to change my preferences on headquarters emails.

Do you mean that in the sea of HTML in the body of the message, there was a hyperlink that said it would unsubscribe you? The first rule of cybersecurity is to not trust a hyperlink in an unexpected message, because spammers love to have you click on their "unsubscribe" link in order to mark your email address as a live wire. I see a similar-looking link in the message I received. However, I'm already unsubscribed from Inspirational messages, at least according to the Church Account email preferences page.

[lajackson]

I'm already unsubscribed from Inspirational messages, at least according to the Church Account email preferences page.

I am unsubscribed at the Church Account page as well, but I started receiving the Inspiration messages about four weeks ago. I wonder if this is another glitch in the Church system. I have not responded in any way to the inspiration messages other than to delete them. I have not explored the actual address of the link in any of the messages I have received.

[rmrichesjr]

Sounds like it's time to report this via the 'Feedback' button/link. Whether it's a glitch or a spoofer, the problems the attention of official channels. I usually give marketing-by-email issues three messages before blocking the sending address. If it keeps up, I'll likely give the Church a bit more slack.

[eblood66]

Does the Church use marketo.org to send their messages? Or, is somebody else sending spoofed messages?

I have older Inspiration messages and they all have the same basic headers as yours and I received this one as well. So I'd say it's legitimate. The unsubscribe link is to a churchofjesuschrist.org domain and takes you to the Email Subscriptions page of Account Settings. So if you're already unsubscribed for Inspiration messages it won't help. I'd go ahead and send feedback as you said.

[rmrichesjr]

I have older Inspiration messages and they all have the same basic headers as yours and I received this one as well. So I'd say it's legitimate. The unsubscribe link is to a churchofjesuschrist.org domain and takes you to the Email Subscriptions page of Account Settings. So if you're already unsubscribed for Inspiration messages it won't help. I'd go ahead and send feedback as you said.

Thanks for confirming the observation/analysis. I had already sent feedback since my previous visit here.

[lajackson]

I have older Inspiration messages and they all have the same basic headers as yours

I can confirm what eblood66 has said. I just received another email. All of the links are legitimate and go where they are supposed to go. The only issue I have is that I did not subscribe and, so far, unsubscribing has not worked.

I clicked on the subscribe circle and then unchecked it. If I get another, it will be Global Services Department time.

[rmrichesjr]

I received an email from ServiceNowGSC@... The reply said I need to click on the 'Unsubscribe' link at the bottom of the message and that's the only way to unsubscribe (for a channel from which I'm already unsubscribed). It's clear the agent did not read my original report. Ahhhh, the joys of dealing with first-level support...