ALERTS

Phishing Attempt: 'Follow up' [another variant of the 'Are you available?' emails] (May 7 09:02 am)

Members of the university community are being targeted by a spear phishing attack where the attackers are creating free email accounts (gmail.com, my.com, etc) using the names of University of Hawai'i officials. These names could be names of the President, Chancellor, department chairs, or any UH official. These accounts are then used to engage the recipient and have them purchase gift cards.
 
See below for two recent variations of this phish.
 
If you receive a message from a UH official you normally work with, with the below or similar message, or asking "Are you on campus?", "Are you available?" or just "Available?" please check the sender's email address before replying and/or verify the legitimacy of the message directly with the UH official (not by replying to the message) or through someone else who can validate the request.
 
If you would like to report receiving one of these messages, please refer to https://www.hawaii.edu/askus/898.
 
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A recent variant has the subject, 'Follow up' with the following or similar message body:
 
Hi [Name of recipient],
How are you doing? Are you available right now for a quick task?
 
Best Regards,
[Name of UH official]
 
--
[Title of UH official]
[Campus of UH official]
 
=====================================================
 
Anothert variant has the subject, "Give me a quick response", with the following or similar message body:
 
 
Are you free now?
--
[some UH department chair or other official]
[their title]