Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
The Harvard community is being targeted by the latest trend in internet scams. It starts with an email that appears to come from someone in leadership asking, “Are you available?” If you reply, you’ll eventually be asked to buy gift cards or send money, which is the goal of the scam. The sender’s email address may have the word “Harvard” in it, but they usually come from free email services like Outlook or Gmail.
If you get one of these emails, don’t worry, simply forward the email to phishing@harvard.edu and delete the suspicious email. You are not at risk by simply opening these emails so long as you don’t rush to the store to purchase gift cards. If you are unsure if the request is legitimate, try calling or texting the person who supposedly made the request using a known good number. More information, including tips on how to spot a phishing email, is available on the Harvard Information Security website.
We appreciate your help while we continue to work on technical solutions to the problem.
Sincerely,
Christian Hamer
Chief Information Security Officer, Harvard University
