Financial Fraud via email Forgery

Financial Fraud via email Forgery.

Scammers may impersonate someone you know using email to commit financial fraud. Be particularly wary of any email requesting money or any details about your financial credentials.

This is one of the many types of scam you may face. An initial email requested a money transfer using a forged email address that appeared to be from the Head of Faculty.

The recipient was Joanna, a busy administrator of the same faculty. Joanna sent a reply, but she didn't notice that the Reply-To address was to a gmail one and not the usual @cam address that the message appeared to come from.

Joanna received another email, but she became suspicious so she consulted a member of the IT staff who advised that she call Professor Smith directly to confirm the transaction.

It was a FINANCIAL SCAM. Be on your guard.

Before responding to such an email, STOP! THINK! If unsure, consult your IT Officer as to whether the email is genuine. Also, contact the sender of the email by other means, for example over the phone or in person to confirm the transfer.

This should also protect you in case the email address is genuine but it has been compromised by hackers. A little caution can avoid an expensive and distressing mistake.

These criminals will try to prevent you replying to the person they are impersonating, that would give the game away. So they may try to hide the actual address where your reply is sent.

Your local IT officer or the service desk staff at UIS will know how to check whether an email is legitimate by looking at additional information about the message. This is found in something called the "headers" which are usually hidden by most email apps. So If you receive an email asking you to make an urgent or unexpected payment then do ask your local IT staff to help.

Another common financial scam comes from messages telling you there has been a last minute request for a change of financial details such as the bank sort code and account number, STOP! Phone the supplier directly to confirm this change. It is best to use the phone number on the supplier's website rather than one given in the message itself – this is another way of protecting yourself from a scam.

Also do not provide your bank account, credit or debit card or any other financial details to someone without being certain of their identity.

If you need advice don’t hesitate to ask your local IT department , Computer Officer or the UIS Service Desk for help. Please forward any suspicious emails to CERT@cam.ac.uk immediately or use our online form.

The world of cyber crime is evolving everyday. Scammers use email in many ways which could pave the way for a future financial fraud.

Anything unusual about an email message should wave a red flag.

STOP! THINK! Before you CLICK!