You have got an urgent message from The University of Victoria

This targeted phishing email takes the unusual step of asking you to send a text message to a phone number. Trying to quickly shift to a different communication method is often a red flag; phishers (and scammers) do this to move the conversation to a place that UVic can’t monitor. Real UVic communications will never ask you to send a text message to upgrade/keep/secure your account, and the fact that the phisher is using a phone number with a New York City area code is a further sign that the email is not legitimate.

Other red flags include:

  • The email was sent from a Gmail account. Note how the email system has added a warning that you don’t often get email from this address; this can be a sign that the sender is not someone you know already and may not be trustworthy.
  • The greeting is impersonal.
  • The email threatens you with an adverse impact to try and get you to act hastily.
  • There are a few grammatical errors and awkward wording choices.

If you texted the phone number in the email, disregard any instructions in any replies you receive and block the phisher’s phone number. You will also need to keep an eye out for future attempts to phish or scam you via SMS or phone calls as your phone number would now be in the hands of someone malicious.

Spear phishing email claiming to be from UVic when it actually came from a Gmail address. Instead of including a link, it asks you to text an American phone number.

From: ke*****1280@gmail.com on behalf of University of Victoria <g1*****+UniversityofVictoria@gmail.com>
Subject: You have got an urgent message from The University of Victoria

[You don’t often get email from g1*****+universityofvictoria@gmail.com. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification]

Dear User,
This is to let you know that our web-mail server will be upgraded and maintained soon.

If you don’t want your e-mail account to be terminated during the upgrade,

Send your “UV-UPGRADE” to (646) ***-****

You will receive instructions on how to upgrade your account via text message.

If you do not comply with the above, your email access will be disabled.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Regards
System Administrator
University of Victoria