‘Fairfield First’ Email Did Not Come From Town: Officials

FAIRFIELD, CT — Officials are alerting residents that an email that was sent out over the weekend from an organization/website called “Fairfield First,” did not come from the town. Many residents received the email on Saturday morning and the unsubscribe function in the email made it look like it came from the town but it did not, according to First Selectman Mike Tetreau.

The first selectman’s office has been receiving multiple calls and emails from concerned residents regarding the email. In response, officials have released the following message from the town’s IT Director:

On the morning of Nov. 2, many Fairfield residents received an email message from an organization/website called "Fairfield First." Of concern to some residents is that when they clicked the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the message, it directed them to a webpage with the words "Town of Fairfield" at the top. Concerned residents assumed that this meant that a Town of Fairfield computing system had been compromised or misused. This is not the case.

In short:

No Town system has been compromised or utilized in the transmission of this message, and the email message did not come from the Town.

Then how did they get my email address?

The Town possesses several lists of email addresses which are used in the ordinary business of the Town to communicate with residents. Examples of such communications include: Town news updates, dog license registrations, beach/dump sticker renewals, train station waiting lists, marina and kayak slip renewals, etc. Under the Freedom of Information Act, some of these lists were requested, and provided.

Why does it say "Town of Fairfield" at the top of the unsubscription website?

There are two links at the bottom of the email message:

• "update your preferences" and
• "unsubscribe from this list"

Clicking either link directs the user to a webpage that contains the words "Town of Fairfield" at the top in large bold print. It is unclear why Fairfield First website owners chose to name the pages this way, but it has concerned some recipients that the webpage appears to be associated with the Town of Fairfield and/or its computing systems. That is not the case.

Where did the message come from?

It appears that this message was sent through a popular online mass-mail system called Mailchimp. The email addresses, obtained as described above, are loaded into Mailchimp, the message is composed, and it is sent to the list of recipients. No Town computing system was used in the transmission of this message.

If I unsubscribe from the mailing list, will I stop receiving email from the Town?

No, this email list is not related to your subscriptions to Town email lists. Unsubscribing from this list will not affect your email subscriptions to various Town services.

In summary:

• No Town computing system has been compromised
• The email message was not sent through Town of Fairfield computing systems
• Email addresses that may have been used were likely obtained under the terms of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act
• Recipients may safely update their subscription preferences, or unsubscribe from the mailing list without affecting their subscriptions to official Town of Fairfield systems