Cyber Alert: Beware of Phishing Impersonation Emails

McMaster IT Security is alerting the University community about a potential phishing scam originating from a random Gmail address.

The subject line of the phishing email is “Kindly reply once received,” and the message asks the recipient to reply to the message with a phone number. Be cautious of cybercriminals disguising themselves as a member of the McMaster community and falsely posing as a member of staff/faculty to trick you into sharing your phone number. 

To view an example of the email, visit our Phishbowl website, which details current phishing scams on campus.

As a reminder, NEVER share personal information of any kind over email. This includes phone numbers, MacHub credentials, credit card information, or passwords.

Here’s what to do if you receive the phishing scam.

We ask that students and the university community continue to be vigilant about these types of fraudulent phishing scams and continue to report them. For more information and how to protect yourself against these types of scams, please also see The Importance of Protecting Yourself from Scams.  

If you do receive one of these messages, please report the message to is-spam@mcmaster.ca, then delete the message. If you’d like to increase your cyber security awareness, there are a number of McMaster IT Security resources available, including:

• IT Security phishing resources
• IT security tips for students
• Cyber security tips for remote working
• IT security resources