Helpdesk

Don't Fall for the Gift Card Scam!

Do you want to lose $500? Unfortunately, that is the average loss users on the UTHSC campus are experiencing when we fall for the gift card scam targeting our campus email system.

Current methodology used by the scammer bad actors:

• An email from a Gmail account is spoofed to look like your boss or dean asking if you can help with a favor. The email says they are at a conference and don’t have access to their UTHSC email.
• They need you to buy a specific gift card (iTunes, eBay, Google Play, etc.) for someone. They promise to reimburse you when they see you.
• If you say OK, they will tell you to scratch off the back of the gift card and text the code to their cell phone (which they conveniently provide to you).
• The bad actors now have the gift card money to spend and you have become a cybersecurity statistic. The online retailers will not reimburse the money spent, even if you are a victim of a scam.

If you receive any email that looks suspicious, please forward the message immediately to abuse@uthsc.edu.