Phishing

From :

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, such as e-mail.

Never send any sensitive information (such your password) in an e-mail, even if you know who you are sending it to. If you believe you may have already sent sensitive information in an e-mail, please call the Technology Helpline immediately at x6111.

Examples of phishing e-mails

Following are some phishing e-mails that we have seen. Never reply to an e-mail that resembles one of these in any way. If you have any questions or are unsure whether an e-mail is a phishing e-mail, please call the Technology Helpline at x6111.

Example 1

This mail is to inform all our webmail users that we will be maintaining and upgrading our website in a couple of days from now.

As a Subscriber you are required to send us your Email account details to enable us know if you are still making use of your mail box.

Be informed that we will be deleting all mail account that is not functioning to enable us create more space. You are to send your email account details which are as follows:

• User Name:
• Password:
• Date of birth:
• webmail Login:

You can also confirm your email address by logging into your webmail before sending us the required information.

WARNING: Any one that receive's this email and failed to respond to the mail will be deactivated immediately from our database.

Example 2

Dear: Email User.

We wish to bring to the notice of our Email Users about the on going email upgrading exercise in our email database, we wish to inform you that your email need to be upgraded. Note that any email account that fail to be upgraded is bound to be deleted from our email data base, in order for your email to be upgraded and not deleted, you are to enter your email PASSWORD and ID in the space provided (.........), send Your upgrading information to: emailaddress@domainname.com

Thank you for using our Webmail Service.

Customer Care Center

Example 3

Dear Webmail User,

This message was sent automatically by a program on Webmail which periodically checks the size of inboxes, where new messages are received. The program is run weekly to ensure no one's inbox grows too large. If your inbox becomes too large, you will be unable to receive new email. Just before this message was sent, you had 18 Megabytes (MB) or more of messages stored in your inbox on your Webmail. To help us re-set your SPACE on our database prior to maintain your INBOX, you must reply to this e-mail and enter your:

Current User name: { }
and Password: { }

You will continue to receive this warning message periodically if your inbox size continues to be between 18 and 20 MB. If your inbox size grows to 20 MB, then a program on Bates Webmail will move your oldest email to a folder in your home directory to ensure that you will continue to be able to receive incoming email. You will be notified by email that this has taken place. If your inbox grows to 25 MB, you will be unable to receive new email as it will be returned to the sender. After you read a message, it is best to REPLY and SAVE a copy.

Thank you for your cooperation. Webmail Help Desk.

Example 4

Dear Gac Webmail Account Owner,

This Message is from gac.edu Message Center at all gac.edu Webmail Account Owner. We are currently modernizing our database and e-mail center and this will immediately close down all not used gac.edu Webmail Account to create more space for new accounts. To avoid having your gac.edu Webmail Account closed down after this modernizing, you will need to update below to Our Customer Care Center to know that this is an account currently used.
Confirm your email address below Username E-mail:
Email Password:
Date of birth:
Country or territory:
Attention! Account holder who refuses to update his account within Three days after receiving this warning will lose his account permanently. Thank you for using Gac Webmail!

Thank You!.

Example 5

Dear Staff/Student

This message is from Webmail IT Service messaging center to all subscribers/webmail users. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail center due to an unusual activities identified in our email system. We are deleting all unused Webmail Accounts. You are required to verify your webmail account by confirming your Webmail identity. This will prevent your Webmail account from been closed during this exercise.

In order to confirm you Web-Mail identity, you are to provide the following data;

First Name:
Last Name:
Username/ID:
Password:
Date of Birth:

*Important*
Please provide all these information completely and correctly otherwise due to security reasons we may have to close your account temporarily.

We have been sending this notice to all our email account owners and this is the last notice/verification exercise.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your Webmail Account. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Regards,
IT Service

Example 6

Dear Gac.edu email account user,
We are currently verifying our subscribers email accounts in other to increase the efficiency of our webmail futures.

During this course you are required to provide the verification desk with the following details so that your account could be verified.

Email Username:..........
Password:................
Location :...............
Date of Birth:...........

Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated from our database.

Thanks Gac.edu Team.

Example 7

Your E-mail Account Expires in 2 Day(s)
Dear babson.edu Webmail User,

This Information is sent by babson.edu Helpdesk Program which periodically checks the size of E-mail Space, where new messages are received. The program is run weekly to ensure nobody inbox grows too large. If your inbox becomes too large, you will be unable to receive new email. Just before this message was sent, you had 18 Megabytes (MB) or more of messages stored in your inbox on babson.edu Webmail. To help us re-set your SPACE on our database prior to maintain our INBOX, you must reply to this e-mail and enter your Current User name ( ___________ ) and Password ( _____________ ).

There would be a Message Alert periodically if your inbox size continues to be between 18 and 20 MB. If your inbox size grows to 20 MB, then a program on babson.edu Webmail will move your oldest email to a folder in your home directory to ensure that you will continue to receive incoming email. You will be notified by email that this has taken place. If your inbox grows to 25 MB, you will be unable to receive new email as it will be returned to the sender. All this will be Programmed on your e-mail upon fill the spaces above.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Information Technology (Help Desk)
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