Avoiding Phishing Scams

Have you received emails with similar messages? They are a scam commonly referred to as phishing.

Security

We found unauthorized transactions on your account. To ensure your account is not compromised, click the link below and confirm your identity.

Due to an overflow of inactive accounts, please go through this survey to confirm and re-validate your account.

Dear Lucky Winner, We are happy to inform you that your email address has emerged as the Prime winner of Four Hundred & Fifty Thousand Euros(450,000.00) in the Uplift International Email Lottery Award.

Your e-mail (or password) will expire soon. To avoid any interruption please click the link below and upgrade your email.

Phishing is a criminal activity where a malicious website/email falsely claims to be a legitimate authority and requests information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords, or other sensitive information) for the purpose of account or identity theft.

Reputable organizations will never request personal information in such a manner. You should be suspicious of any e-mail messages that direct you to websites requesting personal and/or financial information. Such links lead to bogus websites masquerading as legitimate.

Important notes to consider:

  • No one at NJIT will ever ask for your password.
  • Never reply to email messages that ask for passwords or personal information.
  • Never click links in suspect email messages. Phishers often make links look like they go to one site, but actually send you to a different site.
  • Never call phone numbers in suspect email messages. Phishers use advanced VoIP technology that can forward such phone calls to locations outside of the area code dialed. If you need to reach an organization you do business with, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit card.
  • Be cautious about viewing attachments or downloading files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them.
  • Never send your passwords, personal, or financial information via email.
  • Frequently review financial statements to check for unauthorized charges.
  • Be mindful of the information in your credit report. You are allowed to request such a report free once every 12 months via AnnualCreditReport.com.
  • Phishing emails often contain misspelled words and grammatical errors.
  • If an email is in your junk or spam folder, it’s there for a reason
  • Always remember to hover over a link to see its true destination. In most browsers and web email clients, it appears at the bottom of the window.

Test your Phishing IQ with these practice quizzes to test your knowledge:

https://www.opendns.com/phishing-quiz/ 

http://www.sonicwall.com/phishing/phishing-quiz-question.aspx

How to avoid falling victim to phishing scams -> Don't reply

If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click links in the message. Reputable organizations never ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine (such as the number on your credit card or financial statements), or open a new Internet browser window and manually type in the organization's web address. Never cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser - phishers often make links look like they go to one site, but actually send you to a different site.