Office of Information Technology
April 19, 2022
Tags Phishing Email (on campus)

Greetings > Need a favor > Gift Cards

Phish Bowl Alerts

The following is a two-part example of a standard phishing scheme, starting with a brief request for a favor from a name that seems familiar, but a blank To field. 

Responding to it results in a follow-up email (from a slightly different Reply-To address, which can be found in the full header details), that asks for gift cards. Read Gift card scams: Out of the shadows and into the FTC Data Spotlight for background on why scammers ask for gift cards.

================================

From: Meg Flax <mljf@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 10:35 AM
Subject: Greetings
To:

Hello,
Need a favor from you
Thanks,

M

================================

From: Meg Flax <mljf1@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: Greetings
To: Carberry, Josiah <josiah_carberry@brown.edu>

Great to hear from you! I need to get five Google play gift cards for my niece, It's her birthday but I can't do this now because I'm currently out of town. I tried purchasing online but unfortunately, I had no luck with it. Can you get it from any store around you? I'll reimburse you. Kindly let me know if you can

Thanks so very much 

M