Important Notice to Our Clients
Digital Forest has become aware of fraudulent emails being sent to some of our clients by an individual impersonating Digital Forest.
We are publishing this security notice to help our clients identify these fraudulent communications and avoid responding to potential phishing or payment scams.
Known Fraudulent Email
Fraudulent sender:
contact.digitalforest@gmail.com
Impersonated identity:
“Gavin Bell – Founder & CEO of Digital Forest”
This individual and email address are NOT associated with Digital Forest.
The fraudulent emails may use the Digital Forest name, logo, website details and other publicly available information to make the communication appear legitimate.
The emails reported to us have referenced urgent matters including WordPress updates, website security, hosting renewals, technical SEO, AEO/GEO services, compliance requirements and an alleged “August 10” deadline.
How This Type of Scam Can Work
Scammers can identify businesses that have worked with a web design or digital agency through publicly available information such as portfolios, testimonials, websites and online search results.
They may then locate publicly available business contact details and send emails impersonating the agency.
The objective may be to convince the recipient to respond, provide website or hosting credentials, click a malicious link, or make a fraudulent payment.
Similar web-design-agency impersonation scams have also been reported elsewhere in the industry.
What Should You Do?
If you receive an email from contact.digitalforest@gmail.com or another suspicious address claiming to represent Digital Forest:
How to Verify Genuine Digital Forest Emails
Please always check the actual sender email address, not just the sender’s displayed name.
Official Digital Forest email communications will come from our business email domain:
@digitalforest.com.au
If you receive an unexpected invoice, payment request, website warning or urgent technical request, please contact us directly before taking any action.
Has Digital Forest Been Compromised?
At this stage, we have no evidence that Digital Forest’s systems or official email accounts have been compromised.
The incidents reported to us currently appear consistent with an impersonation/phishing attempt using publicly available business information.
We are actively investigating the matter and taking appropriate reporting and security measures.
Received a Suspicious Email?
If you have received a suspicious email claiming to be from Digital Forest, please do not respond to the sender.
Mark the message as Phishing and contact our team directly through our official Digital Forest contact details.
Your security and trust are extremely important to us, and we appreciate our clients bringing suspicious communications to our attention.
Digital Forest
Official email domain: @digitalforest.com.au
Security Notice Last Updated: 4 August 2026
