E-mail Scam Targets MSU Webmail Accounts

Murray State University (Kentucky, US) Help-desk announced during the 4th week of April 2009 that e-mails making the rounds and claiming to be messages from the Webmail of the University are in fact a phishing campaign.

Accordingly, students may find e-mail in their Webmail account that shows it is from the university's Webmail support. The e-mail, which apparently talks about the near expiration of the student's account, warns that to prevent its permanent removal from the MSU Webmail, the user must respond back with his username and password.

And while the electronic mails appear authentic, they are in reality fraudulent phishing e-mails that are simply another attempt of the scammers to trick students into surrendering vital personal information.

Said Richard Williams specialist at the MSU help-desk that the University has issued a number of e-mails, posted messages on the Internet Campus Announcement section, RacerNet as well as added alerts in the school's newsletters to caution students about the e-mails' fraudulent nature. The University has similarly cautioned students of the risk involved in providing personal details online, added Williams. TheNews.org reported this on April 24, 2009.

Meanwhile, the University's official site flashes announcements like "Don't Answer Emails Asking for Password" and also informs that MSU would never direct students to provide their account details over e-mail. Therefore answering to the e-mails with students' identification credentials could be risky. Consequently, it depends on the students to keep such personal information safe, the site explained.

Additionally, MSU also provided the contact numbers to reach its Help-desk where answers for any queries regarding potential phishing frauds as well as other doubtful e-mails could be obtained.

Evidently, some MSU students admitted that because they left their accounts unchecked longer than usual, it was so simple for them to become convinced of the scam, mistaking phishing e-mail for a genuine university message.

Meanwhile, security experts stated that given Webmail-spoofed phishing e-mails becoming common across U.S universities, a predominant reason for the success of such phishing campaigns was that students were largely unaware, who didn't even wish to cultivate their knowledge about the fundamentals of phishing thus risking their security.

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» SPAMfighter News - 5/2/2009