How to Spot a Phishing Message

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The Office of Information Technology has been alerted to a recent increase in suspicious message activity, including reports of people receiving fraudulent emails or texts coming from what appears to be a familiar Clarkson name or department.

Description from How to Spot A Phishing Email above. Unknown Sender. Beware of names that appear to be familiar, but the actual email address is not known to you. Bad Grammar & Spelling. Phishing emails often contain misspelled words and bad grammar. This is a sign that the email did not come from a professional organization or a real person you may know. Creating A Sense Of Urgency. Use your intuition and if something “feels” wrong, consider calling the organization or individual directly to validate the email. Other Tricks Used In Phishing Links to websites that look legitimate, but are asking for sensitive data like passwords or credit card information. Attachments may contain viruses or other malware.

These types of messages are known as “phishing” which is the practice of sending messages that appear to be coming from a reputable source, such as a co-worker, employer, online retailer, and bank as an attempt to get you to reveal personal or sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.  In some cases, they may attempt to get you to send money in some form including purchasing gift cards (iTunes, Walmart, etc.), money orders, or Western Union wired funds.

Description from How to Spot A Phishing Text image: Number spoofing caller id spoofing allows scammers to deliberately falsify the information transmitted to your caller id display to disguise their identity. Other tricks Used in Phishing referencing retailers that are not local in our community is a tell-tale sign that the text is not legitimate. Links to websites that look legitimate, but are asking for sensitive data like passwords or credit card information. Creating a sense of urgency use your intuition and if something "feels" wrong, consider calling the organization or individual directly to validate the message.

Remember from your cybersecurity training … STOP. THINK. CONNECT.

  • Did the message come from an unfamiliar email address or mobile number?
  • Did the message ask you to send money, purchase gift cards, money orders or wire funds?
  • Did the sender promote a sense of urgency to get you to act?
  • If the email contained links, did you click on them?
  • If you did click on a link, did you enter any sensitive information such as a password, social security number, or credit card information?
  • If the email contained attachments, did you open them?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, information may be at risk. For assistance, please contact the IT HelpDesk at helpdesk@clarkson.edu or 315-268-HELP.

We have additional information about phishing in the OIT knowledge base.

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