This message is fraudulent email that was received by some faculty and staff on May 25th. The goal is to get people to open the attachment, click the link there, and go to a site and provide their username & password. It is a common, though not extremely sophisticated, type of scam.
Red Flags: (These are things that not only appear in this message, but are commonly used in fraudulent messages. You should be on the lookout for these kinds of tricks in other emails as well)
- Generic message text: The message is extremely generic. There's no actual description or indication of what the message is about.
- Generic attachment name: There's no description of what the attachment is in the message and the file name is vague
- False sense of importance/urgency: Just "Vital" information.
Message begins below:
From: <Address Redacted>
Subject: Vital Information
Hello,
Review the PDF file for your perusal.
Thanks,
<Signature Redacted>
A PDF file with the file name "Google Docs.pdf" was attached.
If you had opened the PDF file attached*, you would have seen some more common criminal tricks. An example of that image is below:
Red Flags:
- Links to click on within an attachment: this is almost ALWAYS a sign of fraud. The scammers put the text inside of a PDF to try to evade spam detection
- Generic message text: again, no indication what the file is, or why you should click a link to get to it.
- False senses of security: There's an image at the top right that says "100% Secure". Yeah. Sure. And I've got a bridge over the Wallkill to sell you...
* Note: Don't open attachments if you aren't sure of whether they are legitimate. The attachments may not just have links to fraudulent sites, but also may contain viruses that can infect your computer just by opening them.