Just a reminder to everyone that FEMA does not provide emergency alerts (emergency, weather or otherwise) as this is a local responsibility. So we’re asking everyone to beware of phishing emails or websites claiming to provide official FEMA information or FEMA emergency alerts, as these sites are not operated by FEMA and can be harmful to your personal information or computer. If you are wondering how you can receive legitimate weather alerts, check out our blog post for a great list of weather alert sources.
Here’s a short blurb to explain phishing, not to be confused with fishing in a river or lake:
What is Phishing?
Phishing is an attempt by an individual or group to solicit personal information from unsuspecting users by employing social engineering techniques. Phishing emails are crafted to appear as if they have been sent from a legitimate organization or known individual. These emails often attempt to entice users to click on a link that will take the user to a fraudulent web site that appears legitimate. The user then may be asked to provide personal information such as account usernames and passwords that can further expose them to future compromises. Additionally, these fraudulent web sites may contain malicious code.
For more information on phishing visit U.S. CERT.
Also, the agency’s official website is fema.gov (notice the dot gov ending) and we created a page that has a complete list of all official FEMA channels (social media sites, collaboration forums, smartphone apps, text message programs, etc) for transparency and clarity.
If you are ever unsure whether or not a website is an official FEMA website and you can’t find any information about it on fema.gov, please send an email to FEMA-New-Media@dhs.gov and the team will get back to you.