CFCU E-mail Scam

01/25/06

Contributed by Karen Compton

ITS has received several reports from users about a suspicious CFCU e-mail message that has been sent to them. The message is an e-mail scam and should be deleted.

With such e-mail scams continually being reported on campus, ITS would like to remind the campus community to be extremely cautious. Unsolicited e-mail messages that warn of problems with online accounts you may have (such as bank accounts, Ebay or PayPal), that offer business or investment opportunities, or that ask for any kind of personal or financial information are probably scams.

These e-mail messages often have a very official appearance through the use of recognizable "from" addresses, look-alike corporate logos, and links to authentic-looking web pages. An e-mail message with any of the following characteristics should be treated as highly suspicious:

Messages addressed to "Dear madam," "sir," or "subscriber" instead of you personally are suspect. A legitimate company that you do business with will normally use your name in the salutation.
Unsolicited messages requesting any kind of personal information are probably bogus. A legitimate company is very unlikely to request such information via e-mail.
Messages that are vague or cryptic but that include attachments, passwords, instructions, or links to web pages should be deleted immediately unless you have specific, highly reliable information to the contrary.

Even if you receive a message from a company that you do business with and that appears to be legitimate, always err on the side of caution and either delete it (especially if you have no relationship with the company) or investigate further before responding. Never click on any links or buttons in such a message, no matter how urgent the message sounds. Instead, contact the company cited in the e-mail via a telephone number or website address you know to be genuine (such as one shown on a billing statement).

ITS Helpdesk, 4-3282
[mailto:helpdesk@ithaca.edu]

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https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20060125121712483