PSA:Gift Card Scams Emails Reported
Please be aware that there is a recent surge of gift card scam emails being sent to VCU. These emails will usually impersonate a fellow employee – usually someone who is a director. The email will ask that you contact the scammer for a task, usually the scammer will state they are in a meeting and cannot come to the phone. The scammer will ultimately ask that the victim purchase several gift cards for them and send over the info.
To spot a scam like this, careful examine the email address. Usually the scammers will use similar addresses to the person they are impersonating but usually will have some signs indicating that the email is fraudulent. Such as, the email address being from gmail.com or yahoo.com instead of a vcu.edu address or a typo in the name. You can also message the person being impersonated to ask if they sent the email. Be sure to use an alternative email address to contact them.
If you received one of these phishing emails please send them to infosec@vcu.edu and do not reply.