Phishing, according to the Federal Trade Commission, is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source – an Internet service provider, a bank or a mortgage company, for example. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information.
Then a scammer uses the information to open new accounts, or invade the consumer’s existing accounts. Students’ emails have been the targets of phishing scams for many years, and no real solution has been found to stop this scourge – this reality was food for thought for an article assignment for this reporter about how students deal with phishing that can add to their woes if they aren’t careful.
Students interviewed for this article were asked about their experiences with these scams and whether mails sent out by ICIT, aka Instructional Computing and Information Technology, warning of these scams, were helpful. Hunter has a total enrollment of 22,882 students, a total that includes 17,381 undergraduates and 5,501 graduate students. Nevertheless, this article can provide insight into the scope of the phishing issue at Hunter despite on a few students were interviewed.
ICIT early in the semester that has recently ended, notified the campus of the digital menace: “We are currently witnessing an uptick in the number of phishing incidents asking staff and students to validate accounts, and share personal information. We hope that all staff and students will review this information and the awareness courses recommended in last weeks emails.”
“Stay alert,” according to the warning, “for unexpected messages requesting personal information. Refrain from sharing personal or sensitive information like bank account numbers, social security numbers, or student IDs, with unfamiliar sources.”
If you encounter phishing attempts, report them and delete the message. Hunter College staff may send messages with approved links to login pages. However, we will never request that you validate or provide your password via email to claim or save an account. Always exercise caution and take a moment to verify the source of any message before clicking on links or attachments. Hover your mouse over the link in Outlook to see the web address. If the website looks strange or you don’t recognize it, it’s probably dangerous.”
Walter Weis, 70, who said he was planning to major in public health at the time of this interview, said he got scammed for the first time in his life by one of these emails that contained an offer that was “too good to be true”: The offer was for three items,including a camera that interested him.
“Because I was taking a film class, I thought that would be very interesting to play with the camera and learn about it. So, I said okay, I’m going to contact this person,” Weis said.
He was instructed to venmo the sender of the email $200. He obliged but grew suspicious after the vendor requested another $200 for shipping. “The reason I went with it is because it was from Hunter. Hunter must’ve vetted this before they give it on to the students I thought for sure they would do that. But I was wrong.”
Because of this experience, Weis said he understands how these scams work and doesn’t need to review the emails sent by the ICIT.
Rosalie Almonte Santos, 23, a media studies major with a concentration in journalism, said she had done her best to avoid scam emails. “The ones I did see they were easy to tell,” she said. “I haven’t seen any to say they were hard to tell, but I honestly didn’t open anything if it wasn’t an email from a teacher.” Santos said she was thankful for Hunter ICIT alert emails because they confirmed her suspicions about the emails being scams.
Santos said she believed that these scam emails are more of an issue for older students. “They might not be on technology all day like the younger ones so they are prone to be a bit more gullible to the scam emails,” she said.
News stories about the overall scamming of elderly people proliferate. “Scammers get away with billions from elderly American every year,” blared a NY Post headline. “Elderly Woman Becomes Target of Overseas Gold Scam,” according to a CBS Evening News broadcast. “Americans older than 60 lost $3.4 billion to scams in 2023: FBI,” headlined an ABC news story.
Sometimes the escalators work, sometimes they don’t. Elevator service in the North Building can be a bummer.
While certainly menacing, for the most part it has been easy for this reporter to spot phishing scams. Over the last month I have been receiving them less often. Hunter ICIT offers the following tips for students.
Be Smart:
● The email sender is from outside of Hunter College, such as from a Gmail account.
● The email offers a job without an interview for a high pay and minimal work.
● The email requests personal information or money to get the job: Legitimate employers will not ask for personal information such as your social security number or bank details in the initial stages of communication. Be wary of any request for up-front payments or fees.
● Pay attention to the quality of communication. Poor grammar, misspellings, and unprofessional emails are red flags.
● If after these checks, you still feel this is a legitimate solicitation, use an internet search engine to verify the sender’s legitimacy. Scammers often reuse the same contact details for multiple fraudulent offers. If the offer is coming from someone at Hunter, when you google their name, you will find that they are connected to the college.
● Trust your instincts: If something feels off about the job offer or if it appears too good to be true, it is probably a scam.
● The email may contain large numbers of carbon copies and attachments.
Tony Ayala can be reached at “TONY.AYALA19@myhunter.cuny.edu