Another University Hit With a Phishing Scam

In the recent past, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) students have been getting phishing e-mails that like always ask for their usernames and passwords, as reported by retrieverweekly on September 2, 2008.

While phishing involves sending of fraudulent e-mails to entice unsuspecting users into divulging their private details, the stolen details are often sold to other criminals or used for malicious purposes.

The phishing message targeting the UMBC students say that access to the students' account features have been temporarily limited. To reinstate it, the recipient must answer the e-mail immediately by entering his/her password. The message then says that the recipient could subsequently check out the new features of his/her improved My UMBC Webmail Account. Moreover, it also threatens that the recipient's username would be deactivated if he failed to provide the solicited information within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the situation became so disastrous that the university's OIT (Office of Institutional Technology) had to send an alert e-mail to the UMBC community about the scam e-mails. OIT said that alert e-mails were more potent than routine e-mails as the phishing e-mails purport to arrive from UMBC's Web support unit or OIT.

OIT later dispatched a regret e-mail clarifying that the warning was sent as nearly six people daily were giving out personal username and password in reply to the phishing messages. OIT reported that the hacked e-mail accounts are later used for sending massive amount of messages onto the net.

Meanwhile, UMBC has also informed that it would never request for account information from its Web mail account holders. It also cautioned that users should not share their UMBC username and password, even if any e-mail came to them apparently from UMBC directing them to do the same.

Besides, it has become very common for phishing scams to spread as they are getting more sophisticated. Also, they are targeting mainly the universities. In similar news, the University of Illinois is also examining into a spurious e-mail that spread across the campus in the last week of August 2008. The e-mail claiming to be from chancellor describes the enlisting activities of sororities and fraternities as "aggressive."

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» SPAMfighter News - 9/9/2008