Phishing Schemes to be Aware Of

We’ve had an emerging issue we want to draw students’ attention to: internet fraud and phishing schemes. A staff member was the target of a potential scam earlier this fall: the text they received looked like a text message coming from their bank. It had the last 4 digits of one of their cards, with a notice of a very large Zelle transaction they had not made. When the staffer saw the text, they nearly panicked, because that was a lot of money to them.

The staffer spent about 20 minutes trying to Google the number that had texted them, then  Googled their bank to see if the number on the text matched any of the bank’s phone numbers. The number that texted was one digit away from their bank – and the staffer realized it was a scam. But in the moment, when the text first showed up, they were nervous and almost clicked their link, which would have led the staffer straight to a scammer.

We have a terrific IS department here that stays abreast of potential phishing scams. They have a website dedicated to phishing, and we want to be sure students are aware of the kinds of things circulating:

There is a bank fraud text phishing scheme that resembles the text our staffer got. 

There are FedEx delivery scams too. Students might be particularly vulnerable to these if they think a family member, grandparent, etc. has tried to ship them a gift and didn’t have Wake’s address right.

There are take this survey and get paid for your time scams, which might also be attractive to college students looking to make a quick buck.

There are IRS scams that target individuals unfamiliar with filing taxes through phishing emails or through phone calls or texts. They often demand payment of fictional taxes or fines through direct wire transfer or gift cards and threaten victims with jail time. 

There are also job scams, which purport to offer students a job, but require cash or a credit card to get started. The Office of Personal and Career Development (OPCD) has a great website showing students the telltale signs of job scams.

There are also scams that target international students. Some of them claim that a student’s immigration status or visa are in danger of being canceled. Others suggest that the student might have committed a crime in a country during travel to/from the US, or that their family in their home country is in danger; each of these scenarios asks students for payment. And often, if you make the payment, the scammer will come back with increasing demands.

Our IS security team recommends the following for all students:

When you get a suspicious text or email, STOP and take a deep breath before reacting. 

Look at the message or text. Inspect the email address by clicking on it or look at the website’s URL. If it involves a company like a bank, Google the bank number online and call the bank’s officially listed number on the web – do not call the number you see in your text or email (those will connect you to the scammer!) 

If you see misspelled words or other grammatical errors, that is a clue that it might be a scammer. Do not respond.

Never provide your personal information in response to urgent emails, text messages or phone calls that instruct you to click a link to confirm your payment or enter more information.

Be aware that most government agencies including the IRS send notifications through the mail and will not initiate contact with you via a phone call or text message. 

View your Wake Forest email in the Gmail web interface or Gmail app on your mobile device to leverage warning banners across suspicious messages. 

If you still are not sure if this is a legitimate message or not, talk to someone you trust before you take any action. Share the message with a support office on campus (IS via (help@wfu.edu and infosec@wfu.edu), the OPCD, the Center for Immigration Services and Support (formerly the International Students and Scholars office), or University Police) to get some help determining the message’s legitimacy.  

Sadly, we have had reports of some Wake Foresters being duped in scams. There can be a great deal of shame in admitting that you were a victim, but you should not be ashamed! Some of these scams are very realistic and believable.

If you end up falling prey to one of these scams, it is very important that you share your experience with University Police. We need to be aware of messages targeted to our students (and faculty and staff) so we can provide support. 

— Communications and External Relations