Scam Emails Sent From Belmont Accounts

A series of scam emails were sent from Belmont faculty and staff accounts on Tuesday.  

Each message was almost identical, claiming a woman by the name of Marie Jacinto was giving away expensive items, such as iPads, Xboxes and PlayStations— all for free.  

“We are working to block these emails and to investigate and prevent additional difficulties,” said Beau Johnson, director of information security, in an email to the campus. 

Although the emails were sent on Tuesday, it was not the first time it had happened. 

On July 13, the same message was sent.  

More iPads, more Xboxes and more PlayStations—all up for grabs. 

“We’ve recently seen an uptick in phishing scams targeting Belmont employees. In some cases, attackers have successfully compromised accounts and used them to send additional phish—making the messages appear more legitimate,” Johnson said in another email. 

During a phish, a scammer tries to trick people into revealing personal information. 

In these cases, the email asks to text a phone number and asks for a mailing address to ship the “prizes” to. 

“At first I was like, oh my god, a free guitar. Then I saw the follow-up email, and I was like, Oh my god, I almost fell for that,” student Howshang Mizouri said. 

But that wasn’t the end of it. On Wednesday, another email was sent to Belmont’s campus. 

 “You have been phished by your security team!,” the email read from a Security and Compliance team. 

The email, from an attack simulation training center, is sent to employees to test their awareness and train them to recognize real cyber threats. 

In addition to the training, Belmont Information Security suggests taking the following precautions: 

• Never click on unexpected links and documents sent by unknown senders. One click can cause your device to become infected with malware.  

• Do not exchange money or gift card information with unknown individuals.  

• Conveying urgency, fear, or an opportunity that is too good to pass up are red flags of phishing emails.  

• Poor grammar and spelling errors are also red flags.  

• Do not always trust an email sent from a known sender—accounts can be compromised and used by attackers.  

• If you are unsure of the validity of an email or if it seems odd, seek advice from a friend or family member.  

• Report suspected phishing using your Outlook “Report Message” button.

- 

This article was written by Emily Garver