UW-Platteville Outages

[Initial Report]

The ITS Help Desk is receiving a steady stream of reports of multiple phishing attempts coming from two different Gmail accounts. The messages claim to be from either Interim Provost Wayne Weber or Dean Philip Parker and ask you to provide “your available cell phone number to reach you at”. This is a scam.

Thank you and kudos to those you took time to verify first. Kudos also if you recognized the signs and deleted the message without responding.

Did you see this notice?

Microsoft 365 Outlook includes a feature which can help identify potentially suspicious incoming communication. A shaded message will appear near the top of a message from a new or infrequent contact outside UW-Platteville. Here, it is a Gmail account—which is even more strange because the sender is allegedly a campus employee using their university title (though not a complete official signature).

Using the information in the warning message provides an easier way to determine the email address of the sender, especially on mobile devices where hovering over the address can be cumbersome. Always verify first, then respond.

Not only are these emails are coming a non-uwplatt address, they contain a strange format with “.edu” outside the domain name (Kelly.hrenkomaine.edu@gmail.com, plong3une.edu@gmail.com).

Other clues

• Would this person ask you for this information out of the blue??
• Awkward verbiage
• Subliminal sense of urgency (“Got a minute?”, coming from person of authority)

What to do

If you received any of these messages from “Wayne Weber” at Kelly.hrenkomaine.edu@gmail.com, please DELETE.

• Subject: Hello, Kindly provide your available cell phone number to reach you at.
• Subject: Address at your earliest convenience
• Subject: Got a minute?

If you received this message from “Philip Parker” at plong3une.edu@gmail.com, please DELETE.

• Subject: Got a minute?

If you receive this messaged from any other sender and/or address, please REPORT to the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@uwplatt.edu.

If you responded to the email and/or provided your cell phone number, please CHANGE your password and CONTACT the ITS Help Desk immediately. You will also want to monitor your cell phone for suspicious calls and/or texts.