VCU Technology Services

IT staff have discovered an email phishing scam which asks the recipient to reply with their email address, VCU eID, password and data of birth.  Like many phishing scams, it takes advantage of the recipient's fear and presents a sense of urgency.

The email has a subject of "PLEASE READ AND REPLY".  Not only does it ask for your password to be sent (you should never share your password with anyone), it asks for it to be sent to an email address that's not associated with VCU.  Even if you receive an email like this from a VCU email address, do not respond to it.  The sender's email address may have been spoofed or a VCU account may have been compromised and used to send the phishing email.

The email states that unused email accounts are being deleted and that you need to respond if you don't want yours to be deleted.

Phishing scams often take advantage of the recipient's fear or greed and this one is no exception.

VCU's Technology Services staff and other VCU business units will never ask you to email your password. Per VCU's Password Standard:

Passwords must be kept secret and must not be shared.

and

Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication...

If you receive this email, or one like it, please delete it and do not respond to it.  If you accidentally respond, change your password immediately and contact the VCU Help Desk to notify them that your password may have been compromised.

To learn more about how phishing works, what phishers might ask for, how they'll try to get you to share info., signs of a potential attack and how to protect yourself, visit our Phishing page.

For additional information security news, tips and more, view our Twitter page via the Web or your handheld device.