Pitt Information Technology has identified an email phishing scam targeting students, faculty, and staff claiming to be soliciting applications for a work-from-home job opportunity. The scam appears to originate from a legitimate pitt.edu email address and may falsely offer part-time work with UNICEF. Scammers may attempt to convince individuals who respond to share their University credentials or provide some form of monetary payment.  

The following is a sample of a recent fraudulent email. If you receive 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 https://www.technology.pitt.edu/security/phishing-scams.

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Subject: Re: UNICEF Job Opportunity

I am sharing job opportunity information to employees and students who might be interested in a paid UNICEF Part-Time job with a weekly pay of $500.00 (USD).

Attached is further information about the employment schedule. Kindly follow the steps in the attached document and contact Ms. Etleva Kadilli with your alternate non-official email address I.e. Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) For more details of employment.

Take note; this is strictly a work-from-home position.

Sincerely,

Name Removed

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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 412-624-HELP (4357) if you have any questions regarding this announcement.