Phishing email scam targets Tufts students

On Tuesday, April 7, many Tufts students received a scam email, which appeared to be sent from the address alert@tufts.edu and told students that someone was trying to replace the security information in their email account. The email told recipients that if they had not replaced the security information, they needed to verify their account information by clicking a link in the email. This email was signed by the “TUFT Email Team,” and provided a phone number, adding to the apparent legitimacy of the message.

According to Sergeant Joe Tilton, TUPD did not conduct a full investigation into this email scam.

“It … appeared to be a scam from the onset, so we had Tufts Technology Services (TTS) [investigate],” Tilton said.

According to Tilton, the email was a phishing scam, which is a common type of email scam. Phishing scams are designed to collect personal information from those targeted and usually appear to come from a legitimate source. 

“[These emails] are set up on a host system somewhere, and if you respond back to it, there’s no way of really tracking it back to them, so they have someone host it on their website … If you respond to it, and give your personal information, they’ll just take that and data resource it and see what’s valuable to them,” Tilton said.

According to Tilton, TUPD did not send out a notice about the recent scam email.  He also said that TUPD tries to avoid sending out too many alerts about phone and email scams.

“How many times can we tell you that there are scams out there?" he said.  "If we feel that it’s really necessary and a lot of people are falling victim to it, or there’s a way that we can’t take that or TTS can’t take it down off the host system somehow … then we will put a notice out to the community."

According to Tilton, finding out who creates these emails is difficult because the hosts hide their identities. He added that phone scams are equally difficult to track.

A phone scam that occurred earlier this year also targeted Tufts students. These calls were from scammers pretending to be police at Tufts or police in Medford and Somerville. Those who received the call were told that there was a warrant for tax evasion for their arrest, and that they needed to pay in order to resolve the issue. Tilton said that the FBI is currently investigating this scam.

According to Tilton, the best way to avoid scams is to verify the source of the information.

“Verify who the information or the email is coming from," he said. "If it seems like someone is asking for your personal information and having you fill that out and verify your usernames and passwords … any place [that] would never ask you for your username or password ... Trust your instincts.”

Anna Cramer, a sophomore majoring in psychology, received the scam email and said that she was surprised by how legitimate it appeared to be.

“I thought it was real, so I started freaking out because I thought that my security had been hijacked through my email," she said. "I spent … a good 10 minutes trying to read through and see if there were any typos or anything, to see if it was fake, and then [I] kind of let it go, because it didn’t seem right."

According to Cramer, shortly after receiving the email, she heard that other girls in one of her classes had received it as well.

“The email looked very legitimate," she said. "I don’t fall for things like that easily, but it looked really real."

Tilton said that using common sense is crucial for internet safety.

“I think that all in all, the internet is a [great] place … for criminals to lurk and take advantage of people that are unsuspecting … use caution, make sure that you verify the information … use some good common sense,” he said.