Recent Spear-phishing Emails

A new wave of Spear-phishing emails hit roughly 300 UMBC inboxes this weekend. An example is shown below, with the From field altered and the To field removed for privacy. There is no body in this particular email.

From: Forged Name <name@gmail.com>

Date: Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 9:26 AM

Subject: Send me your available text number?

To:

This malicious email uses the name of a UMBC staffer in an attempt to appear credible. However, the Gmail address, unnatural-sounding subject line, and lack of body content are all clear red flags. More generally, be wary of emails from unverified sources with any urgent but unexplained request. Similar emails that were reported previously were precursors to gift card scams.

The best way to avoid these scams is to simply not respond. Instead, report suspicious emails by forwarding them to security@umbc.edu. Include the full email headers by following the instructions athttps://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970.

For more information on scams and phishing, please visit https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=36766495.