There have been several e-mail scam attempts circulating lately. They all follow the same pattern of impersonating a senior leader in a unit/college and start with some version of an ambiguous message like “are you available?” or “I’m in a meeting and need your help.”

If you get an odd message like this from a member of the college, please check the sending email. All of these emails are coming from non-Illinois email addresses. That’s the first clue it’s a fake.

If your replied to any of these messages, you’re ok as long as you didn’t provide them any personal information like your password. Had the conversations continued, you’d likely be asked to send Amazon gift cards or some other form of monetary transaction. Because we now have 2FA protecting our passwords, the scammers have shifted focus and are playing on our desire to be of dutiful service to our fine leaders in our units.

Remember that any ambiguous emails should be treated with a high degree of skepticism!