Increase in Phishing Attempts

The University community is noticing an increase in fraudulent emails coming from external email addresses that appear to come from University leadership.

Many of these scams impersonate campus leadership or departments to appear more legitimate. One recent phishing attempt appears to come from President Robbins, or someone sending on his behalf, offering a baby grand piano; variants of this message were sent to members of the campus community during the last two weeks. This scam had an [EXT] tag in the subject line and "External Email" at the top of the body, indicating that it originated from an email address external to the University.

Stay current with scams that have been reported by checking the Phishing Alerts webpage. If you receive a suspicious email, please forward the email to phish@arizona.edu so we can continue to identify new threats. 

Important Tips

The holiday season is the time of the year when we notice an increase in scams because people are shopping, receiving deliveries, donating to charities and traveling. Remain cautious and alert to scams both for your work and personal email accounts as well as SMS text messages. Keep in mind the following:

• Be very cautious before responding to, clicking links in, or opening attachments from an external email with the [EXT] banner.
• If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
• Do not send money through Zelle or Cash App to, or purchase gift cards for, anyone using your boss's name in an external email.
• Always look at the sender email address. Confirm it is coming from an @arizona.edu and not an external domain.

Read Avoid Those Holiday Headaches for more tips on staying safe throughout the season. 

If you have questions about a recent email scam, contact the 24/7 Support Center at 520-626-TECH (8324).