Audience: Franklin University students, staff, faculty, prospective students, and alumni.
Disclaimer: The results and functionality of the following article only apply to the audience listed above.
Phone and Text Phishing Scams
Phone and text phishing scams have been on the rise in the last few years. These scams normally have a fraudulent call to action such as:
Phone Call
- Asking for usernames, passwords, credit card information, or other personal identity factors such address, date or birth, and more.
- Urgency and threats involving unwanted consequence: Many phishing scams use a threat of an undesirable consequence presented with the need to act quickly to try and get the caller to rashly and hastily act.
Text
- A link to be clicked on which leads to a fraudulent website
- A phone number to call which is fraudulent and not associated with Franklin University or its employees
- Pretending to be someone you know at Franklin University with a call to action such as lending money
How to Avoid Falling for Phone or Texting Scam
The most important thing to remember when avoiding scams it to:
1. Don't respond to any call to action from a caller or texter.
- If you have given out your password, or entered your password into a suspicious website, change your password at password.franklin.edu and contact the Help Desk right away.
2. End any suspicious phone call you may have answered.
3. Navigate to www.franklin.edu and find our phone and/or email contact information directly from our website.
4. Initiate contact with a trusted member of Franklin University using the contact information collected in Step 3 above.
Contacting us directly using contact information found on our website is the surest way to avoid scams!
While different departments do you use contact methods such as phone calls, emails, and texts for outreach purposes, you are encouraged to end any contact method you do not feel comfortable with so that you may initiate contact using our website contact information. Sadly, phone number masking is a technology scammers use to appear as a phone call is coming from an official source when it is not. However, if you dial the phone numbers on our website, you can be assured that you are reaching Franklin University.
For information about avoiding email phishing scam and for best practices regarding email security, Please click here.