This scam email is trying to impersonate President Kevin Hall and resembles the start of a gift card scam. Below are some signs that this email is not really from the president:
- The “From” address is from Gmail, not UVic. Also note the warning banner at the top saying that you don’t often get email from that address; that is a signal to take an extra minute to evaluate whether this email is legitimate and actually coming from the person it claims to be from.
- The subject line creates a sense of urgency, and yet the actual message is extremely vague. That probably means there isn’t really an emergency.
- The email contains quite a few errors in capitalization, grammar and punctuation, which is not the writing style you would expect from a university president.
- The email is trying to shift to a different communication channel to evade detection (WhatsApp in this case, though Google Chat, SMS and personal email are also common requests). If you replied with your alternative contact information, be vigilant and watch out for further phishing or scam attempts on that channel, since your contact information is now in the hands of someone malicious.
If you receive an email that claims to be from someone at UVic but you’re not sure if it’s genuine, do not reply to the email or use any contact information from it. Instead, contact that person through a different method that you know is safe, such as by phoning the Office of the President.
