Phishing scams have become more prevalent at Central Michigan University, university officials say.

“Some weeks we get one or two, and we’ll go several weeks and not get any,” said Duane Kleinhardt, manager of Information Technology Communications. “It’s really hard to tell because sometimes we will find out about phishing attempts, and sometimes people may just be getting them and deleting them.”

Another phishing scam e-mail occurred on campus last week.

The scam was sent out as an e-mail format by a false credit union, said Eric Lorenz, director of infrastructure and security in Information Technology. The e-mail asked for the recipients to call a telephone number to verify their account. When the telephone number was called, an automated message played and personal information was requested.

The scam from last week is now under investigation by the FBI, Kleinhardt said.

The private information that is most commonly asked for is students’ global identification, password and social security number.

If anybody asks for personal information, it is most likely a phishing scam, Kleinhardt said.

There are a few ways to prevent becoming a victim of a phishing scam, Kleinhardt said. The first and most effective way to prevent scams is to not give out any private information and passwords, he said.

Lorenz said that another way to prevent a scam is by contacting the CMU Help Desk or abuse@cmich.edu.

For more information on phishing scams, the federal government offers a Web site, onguardonline.gov. This Web site explains what phishing is and how to take action to prevent scamming, Kleinhardt said.

“It’s a good way to educate yourself on how to recognize not only phishing scams, but other scams for your personal information,” Kleinhardt said.

The Help Desk, located in the Charles V. Park Library, can help students, faculty and staff identify possible scams and other computer concerns.

“As soon as we know there is a phishing scam, we disable the ability to reply to the e-mail address … that way students can’t reply from on campus,” Kleinhardt said.

The best way to defend against phishing scams is to do research on it, Kleinhardt said.

“Learn everything you can about phishing,” he said.

news@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Rachael Saatio