Pet Sitting Scam (9/1/2020)
It’s that time of year again when payment scams start to flourish. The pet-sitting scam offers a great incentive to watch an individual’s pets ($400 a week is great!). The downside is that they will often send you a check larger than the $400 and will ask you to send some of the money back […]
Fake VCU Job Offer via Facebook Messenger (8/31/20)
There is a fake VCU job offer scam that is being distributed over Facebook Messenger. The user posing to represent VCU is named ‘Stephanie Snyder’. Please be aware that VCU lists jobs on the VCU Jobs Website (https://www.vcujobs.com/) and will not contact users via Facebook Messenger.
Fake VCU Housing Application Text (5/11/20)
We received a report from an end-user that received a fake-VCU Housing Application Notice. The text included the following message: “Important update in your VCU account regarding your housing. Application not received and you may be at risk of off-campus housing. Click the link for more details “ Please be aware that VCU Residential Life and […]
Fake Microsoft Page – Stock#Children’s Specialty Group Email – 3/31/20
We received this phishing email today. It was from a ‘cyndi.fischer@chkd[.]org’ with the subject line ” Stock#Children’s Specialty Group, PLLC 03/31/2020 “. Unfortunately, this individual’s account had been compromised and a phisher was using to send phishing email to their contacts. This email contained a link that went to a fake Microsoft Login page. Remember […]
Suspicious Phone Calls – 3/3/20
We’ve received a report regarding odd/suspicious phone call that seemed to play off the coronavirus fear. We are uncertain what the scammer may have been trying to do. Be on the look out of odd/suspicious phone calls or emails playing towards the coronavirus fear. Some common scams include cancelling hotel reservations due to events being […]
Odd Email from Karen – 1/31/20
‘Karen George’ has contacted you because they ran into your ‘captivating profile’. Immediately this should set off some red flags. Also, this scammer included an invoice for some sort of service. This who scam is odd since they are attempting to be a business while masquerading as networking. Remember if you didn’t seek it out, […]
Change.Org Petition SCAM – 1/27/2020
This scam is interesting. A unknown person sends you a Change.org petition. Is it safe? Well, just be wary that this scammer may be using Change.org to harvest email address and first name/last name. If you don’t know who is sending you the Change.org petition and you don’t know what the petition is for, avoid […]
Financial Aid On Hold, Action Required – SCAM – 1/24/2020
This email was sent out to a large number of students on 1/24/2020. The phishers compromised another university’s email account and sent out an email impersonating a Financial Aid Officer. The phishers were harvesting user credentials (username & passwords), on a website that looked like the VCU Login Page. From: Levi Smith <smitlevi@mail[.]gvsu[.]edu>Date: January 24, 2020 at […]
How to Identify Email Addresses on Mobile Apps (iOS/Gmail App)
There has been a rise of scammers impersonating University officials in the past couple of weeks. A lot of people answer emails through mobile devices, but unfortunately these apps will only display the sender’s name by default (which can be easily spoofed). We will show you how you can determine who sent the email. We […]
PSA: Fitness Trainer Scam – 11/26/2019
This scam is a little different than our run-of-the-mill phishing scam. This individual claims to be interested in a personal fitness coach. What they don’t mention is that they plan on using a stolen credit card to pay us and then have us pay the ‘driver’ (hint hint: it is the scammer) on their behalf. […]