Phish Bowl
The UCLA Information Security Office advises faculty, staff, and students to be vigilant when opening emails from unknown, suspicious, or unexpected senders. Some of these messages can contain malicious content in the form of infected file attachments or attempts to steal personal information through carefully crafted social engineering campaigns.
These emails, collectively called "phishing emails," or "phishing scams," are designed to trick campus users into providing their passwords and other identifying information to attackers. They can also be designed to extort money or trick users into navigating to fake login pages, which can sometimes mimic the look of well-known logon screens, like the UCLA Logon page.
If you find the suspicious email you received already recorded in the phish bowl, please mark the email as spam, and you're done. If it's not noted in the phish bowl, please mark it as phishing (instructions below) and forward it to Information Security Team. It will be added so others are aware of it.
If you have responded to a suspicious email and/or clicked on a link and entered any account or personal information, please immediately contact the IT Support Center or your local departmental IT unit and reset your account password to prevent scammers from using your account.
How to Report a Phishing Scam
The UCLA Information Security Office requests that campus users report phishing messages to our team so that we can proactively alert campus users and bring awareness to widespread phishing campaigns. In order for the Information Security Office to take action in response to a reported phishing message, please follow these steps:
- Please follow instructions on How to Report a Phishing Scam
- Send the resulting message and attachment to security@ucla.edu with a subject line identifying the message as a phishing report.
It is important to be aware of fraudulent phishing schemes. Check back here as we update the list below with known phishing attempts.
| Date | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Re: Mailbox Limit Have Exceeded Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: IT Helpdesk Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2019 8:13 PM To: Subject: Re: Mailbox limit have exceeded. Your mailbox have exceeded the Quota set by the Mail Team. You may not be able to send or receive new email until you re-enable your web mail. To validate, click here | |
| Email Alert From UCLA Division of Astronomy & Astrophysics Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: UCLA Division of Astronomy & Astrophysics Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2019 4:08 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: Email Alert From UCLA Division of Astronomy & Astrophysics Dear UCLA Astronomy & Astrophysics Account users, This message is from UCLA Astronomy & Astrophysics System Technical Support Team Admin. Be inform that all UCLA Astronomy & Astrophysics e-mail users must update their UCLA Astronomy & Astrophysics e-mail account to the new 2019 e-mail version for fast and maximum security of your account. Note that you are expected to click on the link given below and confirm your UCLA Astronomy & Astrophysics User ID and Password Or Pass-phrase to upgrade your account. | |
| Dr. Karen L Gordes Work-Study Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. Hi Student, I'm Dr. Karen L Gordes, I feel comfortable discussing this WORK- STUDY opening with you since you were referred by the university chamber of commerce. I am very busy that is why i have asked for your help as my temporary personal assistant. I provide individual and group therapy, coaching, assessment and many University of students with academic difficulties and no prior diagnosis are seen and assessed through the academic screening and assessment process. You have received this email because you have an offer from the University Office to help Students with Disabilities to work with me while we help Students with disabilities frustrated with ignorance and lack of services but as my temporary personal assistant | |
| Enclosed Internship Weekly Work & Study Jobs For Students Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: amira service [mailto . :amirainsurance@@@outlook.com] Sent: Monday, May 13, 2019 5:42 PM Subject: ENCLOSED INTERNSHIP WEEKLY WORK & STUDY JOB FOR STUDENTS Importance: Low Dear Student, I am Dr Christopher Bowman, i work with the Disability Resources & Educational Services I feel so comfortable discussing this Internship WORK & STUDY opening since you were referred by the university chamber of commerce for a Personal Assistant job position. | |
| RE: Action Required: Update Your Payment Information Now Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. Attention: Your payment has been declined. Please update your payment information today to avoid service interruption. | View this email in your browser. Your payment has been declined. Please update your payment information now. UPDATE YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION Our records indicate that the payment method you used to purchase Office 365 Business Essentials was declined. Please contact your bank for the details on the failed charges. To avoid service interruption, please update your payment information now. | |
| Sextortion Scam - Multiple Variants | Sextortion Scams are becoming more prevalent. Please see the two links below for an explanation of what a sextortion scam is and an article on a current scam that is making it around the Internet. Below are two sample phishing emails recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks | |
| Voicemails Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: Anna Aman [mailto:anna@@@amancs[.]com] Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2019 9:18 AM To: Subject: Voicemails USER ID : [REDACTED] You received a new voicemails from Anna Aman Date Received: May-11-2019 Duration: 00:03:31 Listen-voicemail-00:03:31 Regards, Voicemail | |
| New Important Article Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: UCLA IT Services Date: Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 9:20 AM To: Subject: New Important Article To all UCLA Faculty, Staff & Students See this article on our website at https;;://www.i . t.ucla.edu/News/?page= . Article&id=2460. **For Immediate Release** | |
| Attention!!! Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: "admin . @ ucla.edu" > Subject: ATTENTION!!! Date: May 2, 2019 at 12:28:46 PM PDT To: > Take note of this important update that our new UCLA web mail has been improved with a new messaging system from WebAdmin which also include faster usage on email, shared calendar,web-documents and the new 2019 anti-spam version. Please use the link below to complete your update for our new UCLA improved MailBox. Click to update UCLA Technical Support 192.168.0.1 Copyright @ 2019 All rights reserved. www . .ucla.edu | |
| Part-time employment opportunity from Dr. Josh Brolin Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. Hello My name is Dr Josh Brolin and I work as a Health & Biomedical Sciences Building (HBSB), for the department of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES). I provide individual and group therapy, coaching, assessment and academic screenings to support students with disabilities (physical, chronic, psychiatric, and invisible) registered with DRES. A large percentage of the students served by the mental health unit have psychiatric disabilities or co-morbid psychiatric disabilities and need mental health support to be successful at the university. In addition, many University of students with academic difficulties and no prior diagnosis are seen and assessed through the academic screening and assessment process... | |
| Job Offer at CISCO Inc. [Part Time Position] Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: HUMAN RESOURCES Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 10:57:41 AM To: Subject: PART TIME OPEN JOB POSITION CISCOsystems UCLA student This mail is sent to you as to an open employment position at CISOsystems inc. You have been chosen to partake in the current Student Empowerment Program set up by CISCO/PATHWAYS and other Governmental Agencies to enable Hard working and planned Students to contribute their Quota in the New Government Policies to redesign the Labor Market by Increasing Production Outputs and institutionalizing the Economy . This Program/Position is completely School oriented and is relied upon not to prevent you from school and different exercises which is Priority. It is Accompanied with a good week to week wages and reasonable working hours . YOU ARE REQUIRED TO REPLY TO THIS MAIL WITH YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS / PHONE NUMBER IF YOU WISH TO PROCEED WITH THE JOB OFFER IN ORDER TO RECEIVE FULL JOB DESCRIPTION Best, Dylan Filipe HR Recruit Manager/Consultant CISCOsystems® | |
| Tutor Phish | Below is an example of a phishing email that was sent out recently. If you receive this message, please do not respond to it and do not click on any links. From: Gregory Broomfield Sent: None Subject: Tutor Hello, How are you doing today? My name is Gregory Broomfield. I came across your e-mail at the University of California Los Angeles, Department of Physics and Astronomy under People's portal. I seek for a private tutor for my Daughter. I would like to know if you would be available for the job and I would provide you with more details my daughter. I would also like the lessons to be at your location. Kindly let me know your policy with regard to the fees, cancellations, location and make-up lessons. Also, get back to me with your area of specialization and any necessary information you think that might help. Once you confirm your availability, I would provide you with more helping details. The lessons can start by 31st of August. Looking forward reading from you. Best regards, Gregory. | |
| Uconnection Discount Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you received this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: Muckey, Chris [mailto : cmuckey@@aroundcampus.com] Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2016 2:54 PM To: Lundy, Bill Subject: Free Chick-Fil-A for All UCLA Students & Faculty Hello There! Chick-Fil-A is giving a free chicken sandwich to all UCLA students and Faculty! Simply download the free UConnection app, create an account with your ucla.edu email address, and head to Chick-Fil-A every Monday; you can go as many times as you want! You can also save at over 20 other restaurants and bars in Westwood... | |
| Your Chase Online: Action Required Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: Chase Sent: Sunday, July 8, 2018 10:43 AM To: Recipients Subject: Your Chase Online: Action Required We recently reviewed your account, and we are suspecting that your account may have been accessed from an unauthorized computer. Please review your online preference to avoid restriction on your online account. Please Click Review Thank you, Chase Security Department | |
| FW!!!Good Afternoon***** Phish | Below is a sample phishing email that was recently sent out. If you receive this, please do not respond to it and do not click on any hyperlinks. From: Widmaier,Chelsea N Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2018 6:23 PM Subject: FW!!!Good Afternoon***** I am Edward R. Carr a geographer and anthropologist whose career and research focus on exploring alternative ways of achieving meaningful and enduring improvements to human well-being. I worked in rural sub-Saharan Africa on issues of development and global change among various rural communities. My scholarship and teaching encourage students and development professionals to reexamine the sometimes-damaging preconceptions embedded in development theory; in my book Delivering Development: Globalization?s Shoreline and the Road to a Sustainable Future, I demonstrates how these commonly held beliefs about globalization and development have failed the global poor, and how to redefine what assistance to developing communities really means in an ever-changing world. You have been selected to work with me through the UCLA HR departments as my |
