Over the last few days, we have received reports of email messages claiming to be from Vassar personnel.  These messages come from outside email addresses, not from a vassar.edu address.  The messages ask the recipient to reply quickly for an unspecified favor, or ask if someone is “available”.

If you receive one of these messages, please email it to catchoftheday@vassar.edu and then delete it.  If you engage the sender, it will lead to a fraudulent financial transaction.  This email is from a criminal who is trying to steal money by impersonating a Vassar employee and targeting people within the person’s department or organization.  The individual would try to convince the recipients to purchase a gift card and send back the redemption code.  This is a common scam based on existing trust relationships among employees.  Remember to always double-check the “from” and “reply-to” addresses in email to verify the sender.

Thank you for your attention and thank you as always for reporting suspicious emails!  The diligence from our community members keeps all of us at Vassar College more safe and secure.