From IT Services | Notice: Phishing email on February 1, 2022

This email has been sent all faculty and staff. No response is required.

Good morning,

On February 1, 2022, a phishing email was sent to faculty, staff and some students. The scam offered a fake UNICEF work-from-home job opportunity from “Dr Laurent Benoit” and urged recipients to contact or reply to their fake email address. 

Do not respond to the email or sender. This email is a “phishing” scam known as a work-from-home job scam.

Job scams typically use the work-from-home hook with an offer of good money and working from home with little time or effort. Attackers will use internet ads, text messages, email, and social platforms to advertise fake work-from-home opportunities. Victims are then enticed to provide personal and/or financial information which can be used to defraud the user. 

As a reminder, you should never respond to suspicious emails or provide banking, financial or other sensitive information to someone you do not know. Please delete this email and forward any future phishing attempts you receive to abuse@sfu.ca.

Important steps to note:

• If you provided your credentials for any accounts, you should immediately change your password for the exposed service.
• If you provided your personal information or financial information to a scam you should contact your bank or credit provider. 
• If you provided your contact information, this information could be used in future phishing attacks to defraud you. Be wary of any unsolicited emails, phone calls, text messages, or mail in the future.

Please note, SFU will never ask for personal or financial information via email, phone, text or social media.

For more information on how to identify and avoid these emails, visit the IT Services Phishing Scams page.

A sample of the phishing email is provided below:

Thank you,

IT Services