Phishing Email Scam Hits University of Memphis

Dailyhelmsman.com reported on 27th August, 2014 stating that the University of Memphis or U of M was founded in 1912 in Memphis, Tennessee, US recently became victim of phishing as many students received an email from the "help desk".

Memphis.edu is the domain of University of Memphis but this particular email did not contain that domain at all.

The email asked students to click a link and update their account by filling their online data.

The University of Memphis Help Desk got alerted about the issue when a student called them stating the receipt of the email and he did not know what to do. The attendant of the help desk asked the student to send the email to the office which was then sent to abuse.memphis.edu which is the spam email help line of the University.

Ellen Watson, Chief Information Officer and Vice Provost of Information Technology of the University advised to be very careful while reading unfamiliar emails, as reported dailyhelmsman.com on August 27, 2014.

He continued: "We have stopped more than 7 million spam messages and on many occasions different hackers try to steal other's identity in different ways."

The University has highlighted some important security tips on its official website to minimize phishing scams. They include: Never click on links contained in an unsolicited email as such links often lead to fake Internet sites. For example, a phishing email may contain the link "Click here to update your information" as in the above case and then direct you to a fake business website requesting for personal information. The University advises to always use official URL to visit any institution's website.

Secondly, keep your password secured and all passwords are to be treated as confidential information of University.

Moreover, during second week of July, 2014, students of Elon University, Elon, North Carolina, US, were struck in a similar fashion. From Thursday, 10th June, 2014, many current students and alumni received a spam e-mail entitled "Deactivation of Account111" which officials of Elon University confirmed that they did not send the e-mail and hence students should be careful of that.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/5/2014