Scammers like to target 51ÁÔÆæ students at the beginning of the semester. Currently, the most common type of scam at 51ÁÔÆæ is Account Deactivation Scams. These scams involve multiple steps to gain access to your 51ÁÔÆæ account. Here’s what you can look out for:
- You may receive an email saying it is the Help Desk, or Microsoft Support, and your account will be deactivated.
- The email has a link taking you to Google form where you enter your personal information, including your phone number.
- You receive a text message pretending to be the Help Desk or Microsoft Support asking for your authentication code (MFA).
- Your account is now compromised.
Once the scam is complete, this cycle continues with scammers sending out more of these emails. This also leads to job scam emails being sent.
How to protect yourself:
- If you do not have a support request open, the 51ÁÔÆæ Help Desk will not contact you.
- 51ÁÔÆæ Help Desk and Microsoft will not text or call to ask for your multi-factor code (MFA).
- Do not fill out any unexpected forms that are sent to you.
- If you are unsure about an email, verify its legitimacy with the 51ÁÔÆæ Help Desk. You can also forward the email to abuse@uwm.edu, and a member of our cybersecurity team will help you verify the email.
If you believe you have been targeted by this type of scam, please contact the 51ÁÔÆæ Help Desk.
For more information about phishing and scams, please review our phishing webpage.