Phishing scam attempted on University of Illinois students
Photo by: Schmich
A phishing scam was attempted on University of Illinois students last weekend. Claiming to be from the University, two scam emails warned students of a problem with their university email accounts. Their accounts run the risk of not being able to receive any more messages, the mail counseled.
Citing different reasons, the mails asked students to reply back mentioning their email account username and password so as to allow university officials to rectify the problem.
This was but a cunning ruse of a bunch of fraudsters to access their email accounts and to steal from them such confidential financial information like their bank account number, credit card number, and their social security number. With such data, they would either clean the accounts of all money or use the funds there to make online purchases.
Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES), the University’s administrative arm that looks after its technological infrastructure requirements, swung into action promptly.
The scam had targeted about 600 students with their dangerous missives. Fearing students might overlook the patent trademarks that distinguish such emails, the Department posted the scam mails on their website markedly highlighting the scam traits:
The first scam email along with its scam elements
The second scam email along with its scam elements
The department wizened students telling them it will never ask for their email account access codes. It asked them to deal with the scam simply by deleting the mails from their inboxes without replying to it.
Source: News Release, CITES Website
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