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.