Uni launches campaign to catch the phishers

UEA is running a phishing awareness campaign to help students avoid online fraudsters as one victim speaks out about being scammed.

The campaign features a digital poster of a wolf in sheep’s clothing on campus computer desktop screens. Information posters can also be found in communal areas and campus accommodation.

The digital poster on your desktop screens.

Phishing emails claim to be from official sources, such as Student Finance, the UEA IT Helpdesk or a bank, and ask for information like bank details and UEA passwords.

A second year English Literature and Creative Writing student told The Tab her student loan was stolen in September 2011 after she received a fraudulent message.

“Everyone was receiving their loans and a whole week went by and I had not yet got mine. So I called Student Finance and … we discovered the bank account details had been changed,” she said.

“I had clicked on an email that said something like ‘Student Finance details need to be updated’. I was being inundated with emails from Student Finance at the time so I just believed it,”

The Finance Office gave the student extra time to pay her accommodation fees and Student Finance granted her another loan after she sent them the fraudulent email.

“After I had proved the money had been stolen they looked into it independently and found that this had happened to around a hundred other students,” she told the Tab.

Student Finance stated that they never ask for confirmation of account or bank details via email.

A University spokesperson said: “Things to look out for which suggest an email is a hoax include poor language, spelling and grammar errors, and emails that are addressed to ‘Dear User’ instead of a named individual.

“Anyone who believes they have been the victim of identity theft or has inadvertently responded to an email by giving out sensitive information, should contact the organisation the message claimed to be from to check its authenticity”.

If you have given out your Student Finance details after receiving a suspicious email then forward the original message to the Student Loans Company Security Team: [email protected]

For more information click here.