NIU Warns its Employees about Phishing Emails

Niutoday.info reported on 21st January, 2014 stating that employees of Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb (Illinois, US) have been warned of fraudulent emails which they may receive.

It has been revealed that the fraudulent emails indicate an amendment in their (referring to employees) human resource category.

The emails contain a link asking the workers to login what seems to be the website of human resources to identify this modification but it is actually an attempt to steal credentials of employees.

Niutoday.info published a report on 21st January, 2014 quoting Tom Phillips, Police Chief of NIU, as saying "When staffer's enter their login details, the fraudster takes that details to sign into the employee's official human resources account to modify the employee's direct deposit details to redirect the paycheck of the employee to the bank account of another person involved in the swindle."

Victims of this scam may file a complaint with the Internet Crime Center of FBI at www.IC3.gov along with NIU Police.

Some important security tips have been issued to try to minimize the impact of this scam and keep yourself protected from it. Never respond to any suspicious email by clicking on links (as in the above case) or filling out forms with personal or financial information.

Also, if you have any doubts about an email, then try to verify by contacting the company, University or organization (as in this case) directly and never contact by using the contact information provided in the email as it could be bogus. However, you must look for organisation's or University's contact information yourself.

You must double-check the URLs of websites you intend to visit as some phishing websites look identical to actual site with slight changes in URL.

However, if you have already replied to a phishing email, then you must contact the IT Department of the University and change your password and security questions immediately.

Finally, like NIU, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, USA was also targeted recently by a phishing attack and due to this, the University worked to keep the personal information of students and faculty members safe and secure by informing them about the unfortunate scam emails.

» SPAMfighter News - 1/30/2015