Phishing

PHISHING EXAMPLE: Fraudulent 'Broken Lab Equipment' Scam

January 30, 2024
What makes this a phishing message?

This targeted phishing scam impersonates the UC Berkeley faculty member or campus lab manager.

This email is sent to the parents of a student working in a campus lab. It invents a phony 'accident' that damaged an expensive piece of lab equipment and asks the parents of the lab member to reimburse the lab for part of the cost of replacement.

This targeted phishing scam uses urgency and fear to cause the recipients to act, extorting money from a phony accident.

Tips if Something Seems Off:

The message is sent from a...

Students: Beware of employment scams via email

December 7, 2023

Every year, students at UC Berkeley are scammed out of thousands of dollars via fake employment offers. Beware of unsolicited emails, phone calls, texts or even facebook messages offering internship or employment opportunities. If you receive a job offer, don’t trust it without verifying – contact the person offering the job via their contact info in the campus directory or via a berkeley.edu departmental website....

Fake DUO Authentication Request

October 9, 2023
What makes this a phishing message?

This targeted phishing scam impersonates the UC Berkeley Duo Admin to create fear to cause the recipients to act, scanning the QR code which leads to a malicious link.

This targeted phishing scam uses urgency and fear to cause the recipients to act, exposing their personal information.

Tips if Something Seems Off: Double-check the email address before responding. Individual email users (even accounts made to look like berkeley.edu accounts) will never ask for this action. If the link is followed, the campus will NEVER ask for credentials to be...

The Phish Tank

Welcome to the "Phish Tank"

This page highlights examples of phishing emails received on campus. These examples are intended to educate every Berkeley email user on how to spot a phish. If you receive an email not listed here and that seems suspicious, report it via the methods listed above. For more tips on avoiding phish, visit our Fight the Phish page.

PHISHING EXAMPLE: Email Account Removal

May 6, 2022
Dear recipient We have received your cancellation request and you are no longer subscribed to security.berkeley.edu If you did not request cancellation, kindly click below to reactivate your account.

PHISHING EXAMPLE: CAUTION : eMail Account Block

May 6, 2022
Attention recipient , We have received your request to terminate your email account below, and the request will be concluded within 12hours from now.

PHISHING EXAMPLE: Norton

February 15, 2022
Welcome Subscriber; Your Annual membership for NORTON 360 TOTAL PROTECTION has been renewed and updated successfully. The amount charged will be reflected within the next 24 to 48 hrs on your profile of account. Product Information: INVOICE NO. @ GGH1644259106OV ITEM NAME @ NORTON 360 TOTAL PROTECTION START DATE @ 2022 Feb 07 END DATE @ 1 year from START DATE GRAND TOTAL @ $240.42 USD PAYMENT METHOD @ Debit from account If you wish to not to continue subscription and claim a REFUND then please feel free to call our Billing Department as soon as possible. You can Reach us on : +1 – ( 803 ) – ( 598 ) – 4473 Regards, Billing Department SP

PHISHING EXAMPLE: English Dept. (Prof. Duncan) Job Offers

January 19, 2022
Using several different emails to send from and various subject lines, this attacker used the name of an actual Berkeley professor to send out a call for remote assistant work.

PHISHING EXAMPLE: WORK FROM HOME / BERKELEY PAID JOB OFFER

September 10, 2021
Dear Student, We got your contact through your school database and I'm happy to inform you that our reputable company Cisco Systems Inc® is currently running a student empowerment program. This program is to help devoted and hardworking students secure a part time job which does not deter them from doing any other, you just need a few hours to do this weekly and with an attractive weekly wages. KINDLY EMAIL BACK WITH YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS IF INTERESTED IN THIS JOB POSITION.