A Message from Office of Information Technology About E-mail Phishing Schemes
Phishing is a fraudulent process spammers use to acquire confidential information such as usernames, passwords, and personal or financial details. E-mail recipients are often deceived by phishing attempts because messages appear to be sent by legitimate and trustworthy sources.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has warned of a new wave of e-mail phishing scams, where individuals are lured into providing personal information by e-mail to criminals posing as the agents of the IRS. While the e-mail may appear to originate from the IRS, individuals are directed to a fraudulent Web site and directed to enter their personal information. In the event that you receive a message fitting this description, close the message immediately and report it as spam.
Here are tips to help avoid becoming a victim of a phishing scam:
- Never disclose information such as PINs, passwords, or similar secret access information for credit card, bank, or other financial accounts through any e-mail solicitation. Phishing scams often include logos and graphics of banks, companies, and institutions to make e-mails appear official.
- If you are unsure whether an e-mail is legitimate, open a new browser and type the address of the correct Web site to view your account information or alerts.
- If you suspect an e-mail may not be legitimate, do not open any attachments or click any links. Attachments and links may cause malicious code to infect your computer.
- Do not reply to the message or attempt to unsubscribe.
- Mark the e-mail as spam.
For information about resources and support from the Office of Information Technology, visit 360 Support.
