Pitt Information Technology is aware of an email account verification scam targeting the University of Pittsburgh community. The scam appears to originate from a pitt.edu address and claims to be from the “IT Help Desk.” The message may use a variety of subjects, including “Active Account Verification!!!,” “Active Your Account,” and “Urgent Response!!”. The body of the message asks recipients to click a link to validate their email account. The link directs recipients to a harmful webpage that attempts to capture their login credentials. Below is a sample of the scam:
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Subject: Urgent Response!!
Dear user,
This is to notify all students and staff of University Of Pittsburgh College that we are validating active accounts. Kindly confirm that your account is still in use by clicking the validation link below.
Validate Email Account [link removed]
Sincerely!
IT Help Desk
University Of Pittsburgh
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If you received this message (or any message similar to it), please report it as a phishing scam by forwarding the email message as an attachment to phish@pitt.edu. Detailed instructions on reporting scams are available at http://technology.pitt.edu/phishingscams.
Pitt IT strongly recommends that you do not reply to unsolicited emails or emails from unverifiable sources. If you were not expecting to receive such an email, confirm with the sender prior to interacting with the message. If you must interact with the message, avoid clicking on links contained in such emails. These may lead to sites that contain malicious software, or sites that attempt to steal your credentials. If a link looks suspicious, you can hover over the link with your mouse to preview the URL without clicking on it.
In addition, Pitt IT recommends that all students, faculty, and staff install Antivirus and Anti-Malware (Malwarebytes) Protection. Departments can submit a help request to obtain Malwarebytes for multiple machines.
Please contact the Technology Help Desk at +1-412-624-HELP (4357) if you have any questions regarding this announcement.