CCOF Warns Certified Organic Producers of Phishing Scam

Some organic producers have received fraudulent emails claiming to be from USDA. Organic certifier CCOF issued helpful guidance to its clients, regarding the issue: “Certified organic operations should be on alert for emails from the fake sender . Authentic USDA, AMS, and NOP emails always come from usda.gov.
* Do not click any links, respond, or provide information.
* Verify the sender’s email address by checking what appears between brackets [ ] or angle brackets < > in your email program. Authentic USDA, AMS, and NOP emails always come from usda.gov.
* If you have already interacted with a phishing email, immediately reset your passwords, notify your IT department, and run a malware scan on your device.