What is happening?
We have received advice from the higher education community, that Australian universities are receiving suspicious positive COVID-19 case emails. These emails try to lure students to click on a malicious link to view more details about the positive cases identified. These emails may contain subject lines, such as: “New positive COVID-19 case” and” New positive COVID-19 cases in Curtin University”.
Being aware of these malicious emails will help ensure our systems and information is protected.
How will this affect you?
You may receive unsolicited and unwarranted emails related to positive COVID-19 cases that request you to click a link. A good example of what to look out for is below.
Note* the suspicious web link embedded to “View more details regarding positive COVID-19 cases”.
Remember with every email you receive, STOP and THINK…
- Do I know the sender?
- Does it seem legitimate?
- Are they requesting something out of the ordinary?
- Are the links or attachments suspicious?
Keep vigilant! Cybercriminals will try numerous ways to try to trick busy people into clicking on harmful website links, or opening harmful email attachments on their personal or work devices.
Our Recommendations
- Use legitimate Curtin COVID-19 sources. Curtin’s COVID-19 advice website, which has the latest updates for the Curtin community.
- Be wary of emails that arrive from someone you don’t know and are unsolicited; and appear urgent, requiring immediate action or use emotional triggers. They may be a scam!
To help identify these email scams, download our handy guide 8 tips to identity an email scam. Print-it, Post-it, Share-it, to spread awareness and keep you one step ahead of scammers.
- When in doubt, report suspicious emails or websites! If you receive a suspicious email or are sent a suspicious website, DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS OR OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS. Please forward the email as an attachment to spam@curtin.edu.au and delete the email. We will review these emails ASAP.
Further Information
If you have any queries or concerns, contact IT Support on 1300 222 888 or log a request online.
