SASheader1

Phishing Safety

How SAS will and will not communicate with its members

The SAS membership roster is not publicly available and neither is a list of member email addreses.  The only addresses clearly affiliated with SAS membership and publicly available are those listed on this website for SAS Executive Officers and non-officer volunteers.  However, since 2024 there have been repeated reports of phishing attempts targeted at both officers and non-officer members in which the sender impersonates an SAS officer.  Please see below for clarity on how the SAS will and will not communicate with its membership.

Will

  • Mass emails to all SAS members will be sent by the General Secretary using the following email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or by the Vice President for Member Communications using this email address: sasmembercomms@gmail.com.  Any variation on these addresses is not valid.  If either of these addresses changes in the future, it will be announced both by the General Secretary and posted on the SAS website News page.

 

  • Emails from an individual SAS Executive Officer to a member or group of members about SAS business will only be sent using the email address associated with that officer's profile on this page: SAS Executive Officers.  Any variation on the address shown in the profile is not valid.

 

Will Not

  • Individual officers or volunteers will not send a mass email about SAS business to all SAS members using their personal or institutional email address; such emails are always sent from the General Secretary Gmail address or the Vice President for Member Communications email address.

 

  • Officers or volunteers will not send an email about SAS business to an individual member or group of members using an address other than the one listed in their profile on the website. If you receive an email signed in the name of an SAS officer or volunteer but the email address does not match their profile, contact that person using their profile address and forward the suspicious email. If you do not receive a response within a day or two, contact the SAS General Secretary and Vice President for Website Administration.

 

  • SAS does not routinely request money from its members outside of the new member registration or membership renewal process.  If we ever solicit donations in addition to membership dues, there will be clearly posted information about this on the website and on SAS social media. 

 

  • SAS will never ask a member to transfer funds to an individual or bank account "to help them out" or "because of an emergency".  Any request to do so is a phishing attempt by someone impersonating an SAS officer.

 

  • SAS will never request that an award or prize winner pay any sort of application fee, transaction fee, transfer fee, currency conversion fee, or other administrative fee.  If you are awarded a prize with monetary value, funds will only be sent to you by SAS — never the other way around.  Any request that you pay a fee to receive your award is a phishing attempt by someone impersonating an SAS officer.

 

  • Non-officer SAS members will never request that another member transfer funds on behalf of the SAS; any such request is a phishing attempt. 

 

  • In rare cases, an SAS officer overseeing a competition at a partner event (e.g., a student poster prize at a conference) may work with a non-officer member who will be in attendance to transfer a prize to the winner on behalf of SAS.  These arrangements will never be made hastily.  They are planned in advance, initiated by a current SAS officer (listed on the website), and always involve prior communication from the officer’s listed email address.  The amounts involved will be modest (never more than a few hundred US dollars) and SAS will always provide the funds first.  You will never be asked to front the money and request reimbursement.