Category Archives: Phishing

Phishing Wall of Shame – “Email Account upgrade”

Today’s Phishing Wall of Shame entry was sent in by Wendy L., who was savvy enough to recognize this laughable attempt at stealing her information as the scam that it was. Check it out below!

phising stack2

“…we are currently perform scheduled maintenance and improvement our service account and as a result of this your accounts must be updated.” – Scammer

Phishing attempts often originate from outside the country, and so their word choice can be confusing, however this isn’t always the case! Bad grammar isn’t how you know you’re dealing with a scammer – the tell tail sign is the request for personal information.

Don’t take the bait! IT will NEVER ask you for your password. Phishing emails attempt to deceive​ you into giving up your private information by leading you to fraudulent websites. Learn more at- http://www.umb.edu/it/getting_services/security/phishing/

However, the scammer’s last line held a grain of truth, because we in the IT department do... “Thank you for using our services !!!!!!”

 

Beware of this scam email!

Many of you have received an email message with the subject line: “Webmail Upgrading” (screenshot below.  This is a phishing scam. Please do not click any of the links, and if you entered your username and password into this site, please change your UMass Boston email password immediately at password.umb.edu. If you have any difficulty doing so, please call the IT Service Desk at (617) 287-5220.

Although the message claimed to be from “UMass Boston” the sender address is not from a “@umb.edu” email address. Even still, IT will never ask you for your password. Phishing e-mails attempt to deceive you into giving up private information by leading you to a fraudulent web site.​ Don’t take the bait!
For more information on phishing email and how to detect them, please see our web site at this address: http://www.umb.edu/it/getting_services/security/phishing