Phish Bowl

Often seen at the beginning and end of academic terms, the "tutor scam" is an example of targeted social engineering that tries to establish a relationship to gain your trust, an

From: Christina Paxson <asasssp@virginmedia.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 6, 2020 at 9:24 AM
Subject: Josiah

From: Workday Support <support@workday.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 10, 2019 at 10:07 AM
Subject: [IMPORTANT] Your 2020 Benefits Elections

BWell Health Promotion released the following notification today of an online health promotion course for all incoming undergraduate students, provided through a partnership with EverFi.

From: Ana Cannilla <a.cannilla@reading.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, Dec 6, 2019 at 10:31 AM
Subject: strike action

Beware phony calls from Blue Cross Blue Shield that attempt to socially engineer an unwanted purchase and/or personal information.

Phone number spoofing -- when the number on your called ID is actually another number masquerading as something familiar  -- is easy to do and, unfortunately, all too commonplace even at Brown.

From: Kristine Mcquition <mcquikristine@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 7, 2019 at 2:36 AM
Subject: PLEASE CONTACT ME NOW
To:

Beware of the latest phone scam reported at Brown that warns the recipient that their iCloud account has been breached, but is just phishing for personal information that could be possibly be used for identity theft.

The following phishing email was reported with two different but similar subjects -- Security Notice From Chase Online ID: RBNMgQlHXP and Activity Alert: Secure Your Bank Account Token ID: 6FgHDCpxFe -- both sent by

From: Virgin Pulse <no-reply@virginpulse.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 10:04 AM
Subject: Join Brown University's wellbeing program.

Spot the phishing clues in this email, supposedly from President Paxson. What is there about it that might lead someone to respond?

From: Phyllis Greenhill <phyllist@optonline.net>
Date: Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 8:39 AM
Subject: Transcription Services Available

From: Lucy Bryan <pudge9111999@mail.com> OR <tinainseattle@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 21, 2019, 9:02 PM

Don't get spooked by the three exclamation points in the subject line, but do get wise to the phishiness of bad grammar and suspicious URL provided (directing you to http://tags.my/upda

Another phish spotted on campus.  What gives this one away?

From: Michael Cloy <michaelcloy01@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Sep 28, 2019 at 13:41
Subject: JOB FOR STUDENT

From: brown.edu <shnogh.lori@mta.gov.am>
Date: Thu, 26th Sep 2019
Subject: help@brown.edu : Password Reset.

From: david magret <davidmagret2020@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 8:06 PM
Subject: Payroll Clerk.....
To:

Multiple sightings of the "Hello. Are you available?" phishing email have been reported, usually bearing a professor's name but with a bogus @gmail.com address.

Can you spot the signs of this recently reported email being a phish (even though you can't see from this example that none of the links has a brown.edu address)?

At least 2 users have received a large number of emails with subjects that begin "confirm nnnnn...", which appear to be confirmation messages for joining lists.

If you received a suspicious email from NavyFederal that looks like its coming from a Brown address, DON'T panic, but DO mark it as spam.

This supposed job offer bears a striking resemblance to a phishing email reported early last year. Don't be fooled!

From: '21 RISING <21rising@brown.edu>

A bit of phishing, supposedly from the Bookstore (note the non-existent address, bookstore_web@brown.edu -- actual addresses are listed on their

From: Carberry Josiah <josiahcarberry.brown@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: Quick request

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a warning about a new email scam in which malicious cyber actors send unsolicited emails to taxpayers from fake IRS email addresses.

How many red flags can you find in the following email? Which emotional buttons did the sender try to push? What did the sender include in the message to try and convince you it's real? 

From: Khelsea Singh <ksinghcarranza1@babson.edu>
Date: July 31, 2019 at 1:30:24 PM EDT