NEW email scam targeting faculty
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The Office of Cybersecurity has identified a new email scam targeting UW–Madison faculty. These emails are being sent from various gmail accounts and appear to be very innocuous in nature. However, the purpose of these emails is for the scammer to build trust with the victim over time and–once a relationship has been established–then convince them to “invest” or transfer money. This is called a Pig Butchering scam, equating the long-game of building trust to the act of slowly fattening up a pig before slaughter.
Learn more about these scams on the Department of Financial Institutions webpage.
Example message
The following is an example of this new scam attempt being sent to UW–Madison faculty.
Subject line: Professor [First and Last Name] or Professor [First Name Middle Initial Last Name]
Hello,
I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to check if this is the correct email address for Professor [First and Last Name] at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?
Thank you.
Best,
[Persona’s First Name]
If you receive this type of email, do not respond to it. Instead, select the “Report Suspicious” button in Outlook.
How to protect yourself
Please be aware of these messages and stay alert when receiving emails from outside the university. If you think you’ve been communicating with a scammer, please break contact immediately and report the messages as suspicious.
If you are a victim of this or a cryptocurrency investment scam, please report the scam to local law enforcement and file a complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI).
What else?
For additional information on how to avoid phishing, smishing, or other forms of scams, check out the following articles.