This is just a friendly "back from spring break" reminder to be vigilant with e-mail phishing scams. We continue to see examples of what I can best describe as targeted and more aggressive e-mail scams to a number of TLU people recently. 

The scams  have either been related to a) blackmail, b) trying to get you to open or download a file (likely infected with malware) or c) a spoofed email from someone you know asking you to facilitate some financial transaction. 

There are always several that come in asking for you to “confirm” your TLU username or password in order to keep your account or e-mail box. Remember that TLU IT will never ask you for your password over e-mail or by clicking any link or to renew or activate anything via an email link. We will also sign our names.

What to do:

• If you get an obvious scam the easiest thing to do is delete it.
• If you get a blackmail e-mail – do not reply. Delete it or send to ishelp@tlu.edu if you are concerned. We will report the abuse to the domain site and if need be contact law enforcement.
• If you get an e-mail from someone you know that seems out of character, question it. Rather than reply (since that will go to the scammer), send a new message to the person asking them if it was legitimate.
• If you get an email from what looks like FedEx, UPS, DocuSign, or any vendor asking for you to click on something that you were not expecting, don’t. If you are not sure, you can route to ishelp@tlu.edu and we will take a look.

Thanks for staying vigilant and helping keep TLU secure!