Boston College will NEVER email or call you asking you to verify your account information or password. In fact, no REAL company would ever ask for information from you in this manner. Please know that just because an email includes BC-specific details that look familiar to you, does not make it credible.

Be wary of any emails or phone calls asking you to update or verify personal or account information, even if they appear to be from Boston College or another trusted source. Scammers are out there constantly trying to trick people into sharing private information - and can be quite convincing. Don't fall for it.

If you ever receive an email that appears to be from BC, and asks for personal information, it is a scam. Do not respond to the message, just delete it. If you want to verify that it is a scam, you can call the Help Center at (617) 552-HELP (4357).

Sample of phishing scheme email

Below is an example of a phishing scheme recently received by Boston College community members. Notice how the scammer tries to use familiar information, like BC Webmail Support, support@bc.edu, and https://mail.bc.edu, to appear credible. Don't be fooled. If you are not sure about the legitimacy of a message, call the Help Center at (617)552-HELP.

Subject: Confirm Your Account
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:19:19 -0700
From: BC Webmail Support <support@bc.edu>
Reply-To: BC Webmail Support <infosinopec01@yahoo.cn>

Dear BC Webmail Subscriber,

To complete your BC Webmail account, you must reply to this email immediately and enter your password here (*********) Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated from our database.

You can also confirm your email address by logging into your BC Webmail account at https://mail.bc.edu/

Thank you for using BC.EDU !

THE BC.EDU TEAM

Learn how to protect yourself from phishing

Phishing is when you receive an email that appears to be from a well-known company, but is actually attempting to steal your credit card numbers and other personal information!

• Learn how to spot phishing emails from Citibank.
• Learn what to do, if you think your identity has been stolen from the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).

Learn more about fraudulent (phishing) emails, including how to spot them:

• Learn how to identify fraudulent email and phishing schemes from Microsoft.
• Read this FTC alert about phishing.
• Learn about one anti-phishing group.
• Read about a minor that posed as AOL to steal credit card numbers, etc.

Learn more about identity theft:

• Learn about identity theft and fraud from the US Dept of Justice.
• Check out these identity theft resources from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
• Learn about identity theft from the Fight Identity Theft site.