If you receive an email from Boothbay Harbor Police Chief Doug Snyder, think twice about opening it. Snyder said his email was hacked the morning of Dec. 2 and almost 7,000 fraudulent emails were sent by a bot from his address. He recommends people delete an email from him if it looks suspicious. 

Snyder said his email was hacked around 8:30 a.m. and the department's IT team shut down his account less than an hour later to mitigate the damage. He added they have since taken measures to reopen it safely with updated security.  

The emails reference a fake invoice from the town, with the subject line “Town of Boothbay Harbor.” They also included Snyder's email signature and a PDF attachment. IT does not yet know the nature of the attachment, Snyder said. He said other town employee email accounts may also have been hacked, but his was the most impacted.  

“(IT) said, basically, if you get the email, just delete it,” Snyder said. “For one, I don't send out invoices. I think that's something for the public to know, that I don't do any kind of billing at all. So don't open it. And if you do open it, they recommend changing passwords afterwards.” 

Cybersecurity experts recommend not engaging with any attachments and links from unknown senders or suspicious emails; verify suspicious communications from a known sender with another form of contact such as a phone number. For those who think they have received a legitimate email from Boothbay Harbor Police Department, Snyder said to call the department's non-emergency number to confirm before opening it.