Phishing Email messages sent to University email addresses

 Dear All Email Users.
 
Lately there has been an increase in 'phishing' email messages sent to University email addresses, claiming to remove your account (any account) or offer great riches. In most cases they ask you to fill in your account name, Password, Birth date and Gender or fill in a bogus HTML form. This practice is called Phishing because it is a method used to fraudulently collect your details which can then be used for identity theft or credit card fraud.
 
Unfortunately this is a growing practice, and ITS are concerned that staff are being approached in this manner via university email. Therefore, please be alert to this and mindful of the following:
 
1) If an offer is to good to be true it generally is
2) Never provide personal details in an email such as Name, Age, Passwords, Gender, Birth Date, banking details etc
3) If you click on a link which takes you to a web page asking you to confirm your personal details, be very wary

If you are receiving such emails, it is a good practice is to delete them immediately - spammers generally stop after a day or so. If it does not stop, please let the ITS Service Desk know and we can advise you on how to block the address it is coming from.

This message was sent by Mary Sharp, Director, IT Services and approved by Paul Bowler, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer.

Contact: IT Service Desk

Phone: Ext 4357

Publish Date: 16 Jul 2008