You’re not alone if you’ve noticed an increase in emails offering too-good-to-be-true job offers or vague warnings of an expiring school account. FGCU students are reporting an uptick in phishing emails aimed at stealing login credentials.
“I’d say over the past semester, but definitely closer to the end of the year, it’s been a lot more,” said Joshua Chavez, a FGCU junior.
According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a government organization focused on strengthening cybersecurity, especially when related to scams, “Phishing is a form of social engineering in which a cyber threat actor poses as a trustworthy colleague, acquaintance, or organization to lure a victim into providing sensitive information or network access.”
Students also observed an increase in these phishing attempts around the end of the semester.
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“I think there’s definitely an increase towards the end of semesters,” said FGCU junior Dana Roth. “And you can notice it and then in different groups around campus you can see like younger freshman asking, ‘Is this a scam?’ and it ‘s just like, ‘Yeah that’s a scam’.”
One of those first-year students who reached out to classmates was Savannah Camfield.
“I got close to [falling for] one that was like ‘oh your email is gonna be deactivated’ but luckily I texted someone and they were like ‘no that’s fake,’” Camfield said.
FGCU has safeguards to help students and staff steer clear of these phishing attacks. However, scammers have discovered workarounds.
The emails typically come from a hijacked FGCU student email account to bypass FGCU’s external email address warning. It usually includes a link that prompts the victim to enter their FGCU login information. If the student or staff member enters their login information, the credentials go directly to the scammer.
According to an Oct. 2 advisory from the FGCU Information Technology Services Communications (ITS) , these phishing scams have been increasing in frequency. The advisory goes on to lay out how to identify the telltale signs of a phishing scam. ITS also invited students to compete in a statewide cybersecurity trivia competition throughout October to raise awareness of these dangers.
In addition to voicing their frustrations about the increased frequency, students would also like to see FGCU take further measures to prevent these phishing emails.
“I think there is some liability with the school, because people are posing as the school or like services the school provides.” Chavez said, “Someone’s bound to fall victim to it and I don’t think they’re [the student] to be blamed for it.”
Eagle News reached out to ITS for further comment on the phishing emails, but did not hear back in time by the deadline. If you believe you have fallen victim to a phishing scam, contact ITS for resources.