{"id":2079,"date":"2024-11-01T12:10:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/?p=2079"},"modified":"2024-11-01T12:10:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:10:55","slug":"piano-and-welder-scams-impersonating-real-people-from-uvic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/2024\/11\/01\/piano-and-welder-scams-impersonating-real-people-from-uvic\/","title":{"rendered":"Piano and welder scams impersonating real people from UVic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Piano and welder scams are two variations of the same tactic: the scammer claims to offer a large valuable item for free, but then tells anyone who replies that they’ll need to pay to have the item shipped from out of town. At that point, the scammer will provide an email address for a supposed moving company, which will often be from a free email provider like Gmail or Outlook (not exactly a professional look!). That moving company will turn out to be fake–if you contact them to make arrangements and pay them money, you’ll never hear back from them again and never receive the item you were expecting.<\/p>\n

The latest batches of these scams are impersonating a real person from UVic to make the offer look more legitimate. Check the sender information and reply address carefully; if the email was sent from or tells you to reply to a non-UVic email address, in all likelihood it’s a scam and not actually from the person it claims to be from. The fact that you are told to reach out using your personal email is another bad sign; that is a common trick used by scammers to move the conversation away from UVic’s monitoring.<\/p>\n

Also, in the examples below, the faculty or staff member who is supposedly giving away the piano or welder is actually fictitious. The poor grammar is an additional red flag.<\/p>\n

\"Piano<\/p>\n

From: [redacted] <[redacted]@optonline.net>
\nSubject: FREE PIANO DONATION.!!!<\/p>\n

Attachments: [three photographs of a black Yamaha baby grand piano sitting on an ornate rug]<\/p>\n

You don’t often get email from [redacted]@optonline.net. Learn why this is important<\/small><\/p>\n

Dear Student\/Staff\/Faculty,<\/p>\n

One of our staff, Mr. Mark Gary is downsizing and looking to give away his late dad’s piano to a loving home. The Piano is a 2014 Yamaha Baby Grand size used like new. You can write to him to indicate your interest on his private email ([redacted]@writeme.com)to arrange an inspection and delivery with a moving company. Kindly write Mr. Mark via your private email for a swift response.<\/p>\n

Best regards,<\/p>\n

[redacted]
\nUniversity Advancement
\n[redacted]@uvic.ca
\nUniversity of Victoria
\nhttps:\/\/www.uvic.ca<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Welder<\/p>\n

From: [redacted] <[redacted]@gmail.com>
\nSubject: Disposal Of Welding Machine And Tools Box<\/p>\n

You don’t often get email from [redacted]@gmail.com. Learn why this is important<\/small><\/p>\n

Dear Student\/Faculty And Staff,<\/p>\n

One of our staff at University of Victoria Ms Mary Figuerova, Assistant Professor. is downsizing and looking to give away her late dad’s Miller 951937 Dynasty 300 TIG Welder w\/ TIGRunner Pkg & Wireless Foot Control, With A Complete Set Of Snap On Tools Box And Accessories.
\nIf interested in any of the equipment\u00a0 kindly indicate by sending her a mail via your personal email for a swift response.
\nto indicate your interest in any of the listed items contact her on her private email address ([redacted]@outlook.com) to arrange delivery with a moving company.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

[redacted]
\nMember Of The Board
\nUniversity of Victoria<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Piano and welder scams are two variations of the same tactic: the scammer claims to offer a large valuable item for free, but then tells anyone who replies that they’ll need to pay to have the item shipped from out of town. At that point, the scammer will provide an email address for a supposed … Continue reading Piano and welder scams impersonating real people from UVic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8719,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8719"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions\/2087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/phishbowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}