As we are approaching the holiday season, we are seeing an increase in gift card and CEO scams where cybercriminals are targeting our community.
Usually, these emails are impersonating someone you know, asking for the request to be done with some urgency, saying they will pay you right back, and that they can’t talk right now.
While we are asking everyone to be extremely vigilant and report all incidents to security@ubc.ca, we understand that purchasing and offering gift cards may be accepted practice in the research field.
If you receive an email from anyone asking to purchase a gift card, we ask that you follow these following steps to ensure the email is legitimate:
- Don’t reply to the email
- Contact that person separately in a new email to their official email address or a phone call or message to their known cellphone to verify if the request is legitimate.
It is important that you also forward these emails as an attachment to security@ubc.ca immediately and notify your colleagues that there is a fraudulent email circulating. By doing this, you can protect yourself and UBC.
To learn more about how to recognize and protect yourself from gift card scams, please visit https://privacymatters.ubc.ca/gift-card-scams
Sincerely,
Grainne McElroy
Chief Deputy Information Officer
Faculty of Medicine | The University of British Columbia