Information Technology Services reminds all faculty and staff to be skeptical of urgent emails asking you to purchase gift cards using personal or University funds.
These emails may appear to come from a supervisor, a colleague or another WVU employee, but they are really from would-be thieves.
Validate any unusual requests for information or payments with the purported sender by contacting the person via Teams or phone call to confirm the request. Do not respond to the email you received.
Don’t click on any links or reply to these emails, which may be phishing attempts aimed at stealing your credentials. Forward suspicious-looking email as an attachment to defendyourdata@mail.wvu.edu and call the person who appears to have sent the request.
Here are some possible indicators that an email is a scam:
• Contains poor grammar and spelling
• Contains a threat or a warning of severe consequence if you don’t act immediately
• Demonstrates an unusual sense of urgency
• Comes from a higher-level manager who doesn’t typically contact you directly with requests
• Asks you to make a payment using an unsecured method like gift card, wire transfer, money order or bitcoin
It’s good practice to hover your mouse over links and return email addresses to see the sender’s information. Pay attention to whether it’s formatted the way you’d expect for a WVU address or website. If you’re using a mobile device, you can press and hold links to see that information. But don’t click until you know they are safe.
Learn what to do when you receive a suspicious email.
Find more general tips on protecting yourself at defendyourdata.wvu.edu.