Holiday phishing scams

December 8, 2021

A message from WFU Information Systems

It’s the holiday season but there are scrooges among us trying to ruin this festive time of year with new phishing scams.

Be mindful when replying to emails, texts, or phone calls. Verify information is coming directly from a reputable source by confirming:

• There are no typos in the message
• The phone number/email address is associated with a real organization
• The URL does not have any extra characters (o001cfedeex [.] com instead of fedex.com)
• Avoid links and attachments associated with emails or SMS messaging

Do not respond if you are unsure about the content or validity of an email, instead forward the email to the Information Systems Security Team at infosec@wfu.edu for further analysis.

Take action to protect yourself

• Ensure multi-factor authentication is enabled on all of your accounts and don’t repeat passwords
• View your Wake Forest email in the Gmail web interface or Gmail app on your mobile device to leverage warning banners across suspicious messages
• Use reputable companies when shopping online

Visit phish.wfu.edu to learn more about recent phishing scams and be sure to contact the Information Systems Security Team at infosec@wfu.edu with questions and concerns.