MSG Duped Staffers With Email Offering Free Knicks Championship Ring In Phishing Test

Madison Square Garden employees who were surprised to see an email in their inbox offering a free New York Knicks championship ring were perhaps even more shocked to find out it was all a ruse ... part of a surprise security test to see if staffers would fall for a phishing scam.

The psych-out went down in September ... with The Athletic reporting that every MSG employee received an email offering a "complimentary employee championship ring" that could even be customized.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … the email was part of a security simulation done by the security operations department of MSG.

And while some disgruntled fans crying foul are pointing fingers at James Dolan for the inbox ruse ... our sources tell us this head-fake was not orchestrated by him at all ... even though he owns MSG and the Knicks.

We're told these types of simulated phishing tests are par for the course for major corporate entities to keep employees on their toes against cyber threats.

The Knicks had a big championship celebration ceremony before Tuesday's season-opener, but it was full of drama ... with some coaches getting empty boxes that made it look like the rings were inside.

Dolan's NBA team is reportedly being super stingy with championship rings ... a head-scratcher considering this is the first NBA title for the Knicks since 1973.