Good afternoon.

This week I want to tell you about a couple of current threats. I also want to let you know about a current global cybersecurity threat and I do hope you share this with everyone you know.

Also, Mac users will be happy to know that I have updated the Reporting Phishing Attempts and Other Email Scams to include instructions for getting Internet headers from Outlook on a Mac. This feature is only available with the latest version of Outlook, so please make sure you are up-to-date.

Current Threats

• Retirement Review (phishing emails)     
  • Sender is using name[@]stateretirement.org.
  • Subject is Retirement Review for the University of Tennessee System Employees.
  • The message says that you are eligible to receive a complimentary review meeting to get answers to retirement and pension questions.
  • Notice that the message has a logo for State Pension Advisors, but if you scroll down to the bottom of the email, you will see that the state is Florida.
  • Please note that this is in no way endorsed by nor affiliated with the University of Tennessee or the State of Tennessee.
  • There is a disclaimer within the email stating the representatives are not employed by the University of Tennessee System.
  • UT has only one retirement planning and reviewing company that is affiliated UT’s Benefits and Retirement and that is Empower, which is the official RetireReadyTN Plan Advisor.
  • These kinds of emails are often sent in hopes of collecting your personal and financial information.
  • If you have received any email like this, please report it using Reporting Phishing Attempts and Other Email Scams.

• Vacation Planning (phishing emails)
  • The sender is HR_Reporting <jayebrown[@]onmiselfcheckout.com>.
  • The subject is Vacations planning for Utk_2024 stlS.
  • The message addresses “Team” and says, “Kindly check link below about our annual open vacation/salary plan for year 2024.”
  • The link is not legitimate…at all.
  • Throughout the email “Utk” is used, but we know that is not how is it written.
  • And one more oddity is that if you scroll beyond what looks to be the end of the email, there is an additional forwarded email to a totally different person with the subject Cuenta, which makes no sense as to why it is there.
  • If you have received any email like this, please report it using Reporting Phishing Attempts and Other Email Scams.

Global Cybersecurity News

• Pig Butchering Scam (social media and text scam)
  • Pig butchering is a horrible name, but this is what the scammers have chosen to call it.
  • These scammers are alluding to the idea that you fatten a hog before slaughter and they associate what they are doing with this practice.
  • This scam is done through social media and texting and seems to build confidence and trust in which the victim is lured into making increasingly large contributions in the form of cryptocurrency.
  • The scammers will form a friendship with their victims via social media and dating apps.
  • The victims are socially engineered into developing a seemingly close relationship with the scammers, who then convince the victims to invest in cryptocurrency from websites controlled by the scammer(s).  
  • Once the victim has invested a smaller amount, the scammer will persuade the victim to invest much more sizeable amounts.
  • Once enough money has been invested, the scammer will ghost the victim (disappear) and take all the victim’s money that was “invested” in the cryptocurrency.
  • On 02/29/2024, an article on Time, the magazine’s online presence, states that as much as $75 billion had been lost globally by victims.
  • Just yesterday, it was reported that the Brooklyn district attorney’s office had seized nearly two dozen web domains associated with this scam, and that Brooklyn-based victims alone have been scammed out of $5 million.
  • How can you stay safe from this type of scam?
    • Don’t reply to a “wrong number” text message (the scammer will text, then text again saying they realized they had sent their message to the wrong number in hopes of striking up a conversation).
    • Don’t accept friend requests from random people, especially ones who obviously have no ties to anyone you truly know.
    • Don’t use social media apps that you don’t understand.
    • Don’t share personal information, including financial information, with someone you have only met online.
    • Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated by someone you have never met.
    • Don’t invest in cryptocurrency (this is also a general rule due to all the issues in the news over the last year).
  • If you think you are a victim of a pig butchering scam, please contact your local law enforcement office, the FBI, and/or the Tennessee Securities Division by visiting their site, emailing securities.1@tn.gov, or calling (800) 863-9117.

Thanks for all you do to protect the Institute and its data. And please let me know anytime you have questions, concerns, or potential security problems.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sandy

Important Note: Thank you so much for sharing these e-newsletters with family, friends, clients, students, and anyone else who may benefit from the information. I would like to stress that you should keep your students in mind, as non-employee students will not get this information without someone sharing. If anyone else has an email group for students who are not employees of your department, please let me know what that address is and I can include it. I do this as a blind copy so student names and addresses will not show up!