Why this looks valid

• The message appears to be from someone at Vassar College.
• The message has a personal greeting.
• It is likely the message appears to be from one of your supervisors at Vassar College.

Why this is fraud

• The originating email address is from gmail.com, not from vassar.edu.
• Grammatical errors are often indicators of malicious emails.

Additional notes

• iTunes gift card scams are common!  There have been an increase in these scams over the last few months.  Here is a summary news story about it:  https://www.metro.us/news/the-big-stories/itunes-gift-card-scam
• A phone call to the alleged sender would quickly verify if this is a legitimate email. It only takes a few minutes to pick up the phone!
• A little paranoia goes a long way! Be suspicious of any email messages similar to this one.