Phishing email alert

Please be aware of a phishing email that is currently targeting students cross the UK.

Emails are circulating that state students have been awarded a grant and they need to click on a link to go to a form to complete their details. They often look authentic to the universities that are being targeted. 

The link takes students to a fake university-branded web page, hosted on a compromised server in the US. The web page asks them for a large amount of personal data, including DoB, Mother’s maiden name, bank card details etc...  Further on, on submit it takes them to a subsequent page branded to the bank that they had entered, asking for further information such as telephone passcode, last transactions, etc... In other words, everything necessary to steal identity and get past bank online and telephone security checks. 

Example fake (phishing) email:

From: University of Xxxx <xxxxx@students.xxxx.ac.uk>
Date: 22 September 2017 at 13:38:24 BST
To: xxxxxxx@xxxx.ac.uk
Subject: You have been awarded a student grant

Please don't click on anything you are unsure of. Please seek assistance in the Learning Centre in the first instance. If you are working in the Technology Centre (Alan Turing Building, MI Building), please go to the Helpdesk in MI101. Our staff may contact the Service Desk on your behalf, or ask you to contact us yourself. We will ask for your student number and name to log a call.