UAB is fighting a persistent, sophisticated series of phishing attacks against campus inboxes — and students, faculty and staff need to be vigilant. The busy season gives scammers a better chance to catch you off guard with phishing emails — and that means you need to be extra skeptical when you review your inbox.

Over the past week, a number of phishing emails have struck the UAB community, including:

• Offers to apply to be a personal assistant
• Fake emails about your Office 365 account
• Offers for items for sale, such as musical instruments

In most of the emails, you are asked to click a link to fill out a form or enter your credentials. That’s when scammers can get control of your account — and then send emails on your behalf to the rest of campus.

If you get a suspicious email, report it via the Outlook phishing button, or forward it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you get prompted for a DUO authentication you didn’t request, don’t click the “accept” button.

Signs of a phishing email can be bad grammar or spelling; URLs that don’t match; suspicious sender addresses; unusual requests; and and urgent or threatening tone.

If you suspect an email is a phish, don’t click its links. Instead, go to a trusted web site if you believe you need to log in to a system.