In an effort to keep the campus informed and safe, Campus Technology Services (CTS) will present a monthly Oswego Today column on Cybersecurity that will contain information on how to protect yourself online and new emerging threats to be aware of. For the first in this series, CTS will cover gift card scams.
Gift card scams are scams where a malicious party will present a scenario to scare the user into believing they owe them money. They will then request the money be paid to them in the form of prepaid gift cards. This tactic is often used as gift cards are difficult to track once turned over to the scammer and can be converted into cash on the black market. These scams are most commonly performed via email phishing where they will pose as someone collecting debt, the IRS seeking back taxes, or someone posing as a department boss requesting money urgently as they are in a meeting and need it.
Recently there have been reports of this kind of scam being performed via direct chat clients such as Google Chat where the scammer will pose as someone you know requesting money via a direct chat message. Always treat a message from someone requesting money, especially money via gift card, with intense suspicion.
Please report activity like this to the CTS Help Desk, so CTS can investigate should you encounter it.