Many users received an email what is the typical beginning of a gift card scam today. Typically scammers register a gmail address. They like to include “executive” or “director” in the name of the gmail account to make it sound more convincing. Sometimes they include the name(s) or initials of the person that they impersonate. Most frequently Deans/Chairs/managers are impersonated, but we’ve seen also impersonations of their respective assistants, as in the example below.
What we find new in the arsenal of con-artists is to add a brief explanation “Sorry for using my alternate email”.
If in doubt we suggest you call the person on the phone or use their UVic address to determine if the request was legit.
Even better, if you are a dean/chair/manager/etc, just tell your people that under no circumstances you would ask them by email to buy gift cards for you.
