Scam Alert – Gift Card Phishing
A spike in phishing emails has recently hooked several members of the UNC Charlotte community. These email attacks requesting gift card codes appear to be sent from a trusted source (dean, supervisor, manager, etc.) but are sent from a criminal.
Here’s what happens:
- You receive an email from what, at first glance, seems to be a trusted sender. The sender asks you via email to purchase gift cards, offering a seemingly legitimate reason why he or she cannot speak in person.
- The sender requests that you send a photo of the cards with the film scratched off and gift codes revealed.
- Once the criminal has those codes, they will use the gift cards as their own, and your money will not be recoverable.
DO NOT PURCHASE CARDS OR PROVIDE CODES FROM GIFT CARDS. There is no reason for any UNC Charlotte employee to request gift cards with the codes revealed.
Always be wary of emails from external domains.
Scam emails will often come from an address that looks similar to a real UNC Charlotte employee but comes from an external domain (i.e., @yahoo.com, @gmail.com, etc.).
| Sample Email Address | Real or Fake? |
|---|---|
| John.Smith@gmail.com |
FAKE HINT: Email has real UNC Charlotte staff name BUT ends in @gmail.com |
| John.Smith.uncc.edu@gmail.com |
FAKE HINT: Email has real UNC Charlotte staff name and contains uncc.edu in the username BUT ends in @gmail.com |
| John.Smith@uncc.edu |
REAL HINT: Email has real UNC Charlotte staff name AND ends in @uncc.edu |
If you are the target of a phishing email from an address that does not end with @uncc.edu, DO NOT RESPOND. Report the email as phishing and delete it immediately. If you have any questions, please contact the IT Service Desk at 704-687-5500.