Student Loan Phishing email Scam - 10 September

Beware of the latest hoax email attack aimed at students regarding Student Loans, the latest in a series of email phishing attacks aimed directly at University of Bath students.

The email claims to be from the Student Loans Company and asks you to update your account information via the link provided. This email is not genuine.

Details of the latest attack are as follows:

Message Header

* Subject: Important Security Information - Student Finance England
* From: "notifications@slc.co.uk" United Kingdom
* Return-Path:
* Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:35:35 +0300 [06:35:35 BST]

Message Body :

This is a formal notification of an important account update. Due to a recent update in our database we require all student to update their account information to ensure you receive your scheduled payment, and avoid a missed payment. To update your account information, click on the link below created specially for this purpose if that does not work you can copy and paste the link to your browse.

http://studentfinance.direct.gov.uk.gracebaptistscottsboro.com/

Please fill the requested information exactly as you filled it when you were signing up for student finance. or your payment will be suspended because of failed account verification.

Yours sincerely

Student Finance England

Please do not reply to this email as it has been automatically produced from an address which cannot accept incoming mail.

Message Ends


Action:

* DELETE this email.
* DO NOT follow the link in the email.
* DO NOT reply to the email.

Information about Phishing Emails:

Phishing emails are sent to extract sensitive account details, encourage the sending of money or offer bogus jobs with very little effort but large rewards. Replying to such an email, even if you do not provide them with their requirements, will tell them that the account is active and a potential future hit.

These emails are designed to look like they originate from trustworthy sites and can be very hard to spot. We have listed some of the things that can be a sign that an email is not genuine:

* BUCS will NEVER ask you to reveal your password
* Do not trust anyone who is using a free online account such as Hotmail, Windows Live, Google Mail or Yahoo
* The ‘from’ address and logo can be easily faked and this is not a guarantee of a genuine email
* Do not trust anyone who is offering a job that doesn't require much work but offers good money in return. Always remember if an offer is too good to be true, it probably is
* If there are spelling mistakes or extra unnecessary words in the text, it is not likely to be genuine: e.g. ‘HSBC’s electronic banking’ instead of ‘HSBC online banking’
* If the ‘web site link’ directs you to a web site that does not have a name associated with the sender, it is not likely to be genuine. (This can be ascertained by hovering over a link and looking at the address that appears in the bottom left of the web browser)