Over the past few days, we have noticed an increase in emails claiming to come from Williams faculty or staff requesting a change in their direct deposit settings. Another common theme is a bad actor pretending to be a vendor we work with, and asking our Finance group to change the bank account details from the vendors’ bank account to the attackers’.
In either case, we should be extra vigilant when asked to do something unusual during this time. Please inspect the sender’s email address, examine where a Reply-to address may lead, and do not click on any links or images within suspicious emails.
When in doubt, reach out to the individual or vendor through known-good means, but one that is different from how the request originated. For example, if a supposed vendor emails a request to change their banking or payment info, then an appropriate response would be to make a voice call to the main number we have on file to confirm that the vendor has just changed banking institutions or accounts.
Threat actors out there likely monitor our web site, and if they are targeting Williams specifically enough to spoof the account of a faculty or staff member, they are likely aware we have transitioned to a new system and assume that we are learning what the new normal processes are. What an ideal time to try to defraud us!
Please continue to submit suspicious emails to [email protected], and thanks to our partners in Finance and HR for being on high alert during this time of transition!