Have you received an email, seemingly from an executive, asking you to purchase gift cards? This is most likely a scam intended to steal money from victims or the institution. UNTHSC Information Security has seen an increase in these types of social engineering attacks of late.
The scam typically starts with a spoofed email or text from a person of authority, such as a CEO or HR director, telling an employee to purchase gift cards for the executive to give away or to use to purchase items, say, for a birthday party. The employee is told to send the gift card information, including the number and PIN, back to the “boss”—really the fraudster—who then can cash out the value before you know there is a problem.
There are ways to prevent these types of scams:
- Look at the email header of the sender. Keep an eye out for email addresses that look similar to, but not the same as the ones used by your work supervisors or peers (unthsc.edu vs. unthsc-edu.org).
- Be wary of requests to buy multiple gift cards, even if the request seems ordinary.
- Watch out for grammatical errors or odd phrasing.
- Notice language that tries to pressure you to purchase the cards quickly.
- Finally, be wary if the sender asks you to send the gift card number and PIN back to them.
- Don’t rely on email alone. Talk to your executive directly.
Requests for gift card purchases or wire transfers should be highly scrutinized.
Please report suspicious e-mails or suspected scams to abuse@unthsc.edu.