CEO Fraud

CEO-Fraud (Wikipedia) describes a certain kind of fraud attempt directed at institutions

Hello
Your attention is required, Kindly email me back
as soon as possible

Best Regards
Prof. Dr. Mein Vorgesetzter
Institut für Betrugsforschung an der CAU

Employees receive a mail that seems to originate from a superior. A small (personal) favour is requested.

In the cases known to us, the favour consists of buying gift cards. The gift cards codes are then to be sent via mail. Reimbursement at the next possible opportunity is promised.

If examined properly, the messages are not sent by a superior, but originate outside of the university. We assume contact and signature information is collected from university web pages.

  • Always validate the sender adress of a message
  • Never follow through with such favours without validating the request, preferably via a different channel (e.g. telephone)
  • Do not reply to suspicious emails

 

Please handle suspicious mails as suggested.