A number of people have reported receiving a suspicious sms message on their personal cell phone. The message is brief asking for a reply and impersonating another employee at TCNJ. If you receive a message like this do not reply, and report it to the Information Security Office. All suspicious messages should be reported to phish@tcnj.edu so we can investigate, and protect other members of our community. The reported message contained the following text
Hi XXXX, let me know when you are available. There is something I need you to do. I am going into a brief now with limited calls, so just reply to my text
The attacker was most likely trying to get someone to purchase gift cards, and then send pictures of the numbers so the money can be stolen. Be suspicious of any contacts or requests that seem off. Contact from a new number, outside of business hours, requesting immediate replies, not using the regular means of communication, these are all red flags. It is much better to be safe, pause, question the message, than to fall victim to a scam.