Warning: COVID-19 Scams on the Rise
Hello, This is general PSA to alert the community about an uptick in COVID-19 related scams. As always, scammers and bad actors will take advantage of a bad situation. There has been reports that there are some scam emails stating that the scammer have access to scarce resources (toilet paper, hand sanitizer and face mask) […]
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 […]
Connect-VCU, Scam 1/22/20
The following is a scam in which the scammer has posed as VCU IT Support Center. The scammer is claiming that the user needs to update their VCU account by clicking a link or the victim will lose access to their account. Please note that the email address used is not a VCU account and […]
Action Required! , Scam 1/9/20
The following is a scam email in which the scammer has impersonated VCU IT and is asking users to click a link. The scammer claims that in order to keep your VCU account the victim is required to enter their info into the link. Please note that the email address used is NOT a VCU […]
Check for me please, Scam 1/6/20
The following email is a scam email, in which the scammer has posed at the VCU IT department. The scammer is attempting to trick the victim into clicking a link, which the scammer will use to harvest the user’s login credentials. You can tell this is a scam based on the scammer’s email address and […]
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: Rise in Impersonation Emails
There has been a large flux of scam emails sent out to the community. Please be aware that you may have received one. The scam emails will usually be “[email protected]” and have a short subject line, we have seen “free”, “less busy”, “Dean of Department”, “Director of Department” and others. The scammers will say that […]