Dear campus community,

iTunes Gift Card scams are making the rounds at Fresno State and have swiftly become a popular way to con people out of their hard-earned money.

Scammers attempt to trick us into thinking we’re helping a member of the campus community in dire need of immediate assistance. They’ve done their homework in targeting Fresno State employees and students by sending fake emails that appear to come from a known administrator, professor, manager or supervisor. All this is part of a clever ploy to convince the recipient that there is a very real emergency in progress.

Potential victims are encouraged to help by purchasing iTunes gift cards and emailing a photo of the 16-digit redemption codes to the scammer. Once that’s complete, the money is gone! The codes are quickly sold or used to purchase high-value Apple products, all at the victim's expense.

Gift card scams are now the No. 1 reported method of payment for impostor scams. We can recognize the scam and avoid being duped by having familiarity with scammer tactics and awareness of how gift cards may be used as a method of payment for fraud.

Anyone who demands payment by gift card is always, always, always a scammer.

If you receive an email of this type, do not follow the instructions and do not respond to the email. If you’ve been a victim of this type of scam contact the campus Police Department at 559.278.8400.

Thank you for your taking a moment to increase your awareness on the growing number of gift card scams.

Sincerely,
Technology Services - Information Security

How to report phishing attempts and other suspicious messages:
To report a suspicious email, forward the message to Technology Services – Information Security at reportphishing@csufresno.edu with complete information.

In Google Mail:

• Open the message you would like to view
• Click the three vertical dots " ⋮ " next to reply
• Select “Show original” - the original message will show in a new browser tab
• Click the "Copy to Clipboard" button to copy the entire message
• Close the browser tab containing the original message
• Compose a new email message and add the "To" address (e.g. reportphishing@csufresno.edu)
• Paste the copied text into the new message
• Send the message

This email address is monitored by the Information Security team, but you might not receive a reply to your report.

How to mark phishing and other suspicious messages as spam in Gmail:

In Google Mail:

• On a computer, go to Gmail
• Open the message
• Click the three vertical dots “ ⋮ " next to reply. Note: If you are using classic Gmail, click the Down arrow
• Click Report phishing