April 3, 2008
Police investigate possible identity theft from e-mail scam
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University police are investigating a possible identity theft regarding a graduate student who responded to a scam that targets campus e-mail users.According to a police report, the student received an e-mail on March 28 that allegedly was from the Purdue University Messaging Center. The message stated that the student's e-mail account would be shut off if she did not respond with her e-mail username and password. She replied to the e-mail with the requested information, and the next time she attempted to log into her Purdue e-mail account, she was locked out.
Two days later, the student was given an e-mail that her professor and supervisor had received alleging that the student was possibly involved in an international e-mail fraud, Purdue police Lt. Fred Davis said. The professor also received an e-mail stating that spam e-mail was being sent from the student's account, Davis said.
Davis said Purdue e-mail account holders are tempting targets for such "phishing" scams in which someone attempts to fraudulently acquire sensitive information by pretending to represent an authoritative entity.
Purdue's information technology representatives never request personal account information via e-mail. Users who receive such a message should immediately delete the e-mail and not reply. Those who have already responded to any such e-mail should immediately reset their e-mail password and run antivirus and antimalware scans on their computer.
For more information, or to change your password, go to https://www.purdue.edu/securePurdue .Writer: Jim Bush, (765) 494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu
Source: Fred Davis, (765) 494-8221, fvdavis@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
To the News Service home page