With technology dominating how the world is run today, scammers are becoming ever present. The ways they are targeting people are ever changing.
Here are some tips and advice from the UTA Police Department on how to avoid scams and phishing attempts.
Gregory Finney, UTA Police Department crime prevention and community engagement officer, said phishing is a cyberattack when criminals try to use emails, text messages, phone calls or fake websites to trick people.
The goal of these attacks is to obtain passwords, sensitive information, money or to download malware on the affected person’s device, Finney said.
“Every day, we are always battling against someone trying to overcome the firewall and infrastructure here at the university,” Finney said.
When receiving an email it is always best to remain diligent and to make sure the email is coming from a legitimate source, such as people that work for the university or at organizations that the user might know.
An email message could be full of malware or different types of computer viruses, such as “trojan horses,” Finney said.
“Just tapping on that email, opening that email could be bad news,” he said. “You can immediately download malware onto your system, some of these emails do carry all types of code within them.”
Finney said if someone receives an email from someone they don’t know, they can check who sent the email, and if it is suspicious, there is a phishing button on Outlook to report the email and sender.
If an email starts with urgent phrases such as ‘Act now!,’ ‘Your account will be locked.’ or ‘Immediate action required.,’ it could be a scam.
If someone clicks on a scam email, they should disconnect from their network if malware may have been downloaded, change their passwords, report the incident to the Office of Information Technology, enable multi-factor authorization and monitor accounts for suspicious activity, he said.
“If it doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzy, push the phishing button, get it off or just delete it out of your system,” Finney said.
Types of Scams:Fake IT support emailsFake payroll or HR requestsStudent financial aid scamsGift card scamsResearch and grant scamsPhishing emails
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