This phishing attempt was received recently. Let’s break down the red flags, highlighted in the image, that can warn us this is a phishing email.

1. Sending name “student number” – This is very clearly not a real name, and is in all lowercase (bad grammar is a common phishing red flag

2. Email from @gmail.com – All Vassar emails should end in @vassar.edu. While real emails could come from an address with a different domain, this could point to a potential phishing attack like this one.

3. Domain in signature – Along with point 2, this email supposedly originates from the South African Government News Agency, so the fact the email domain does not match that could be suspicious. Also, phishing emails will often employ real official organizations to try to seem more trustworthy. However, consider why this agency would be reaching out to you about this topic, and if it seems legitimate.

4. Reference to a real person – like wit the news agency in point 3, you can easily search Gessler Moses Nkondo, and see that he was a real Vassar professor. This is also used to give a sense of legitimacy to the request.

5. Different signature versus sending name – In the signature and message, the sender claims to be Nkondo’s wife, Olga Makhubela-Nkondo. This is also easily verified online. However, the name in the email address is Naome Leketi, suggesting the sender is merely pretending to be Makhubela-Nkondo.

6. Call to action – This is maybe the post common red flag of this email: a call to action (what the sender wants to get you to do) in the form of asking for a social security number. The sender is trying to establish authority to access private and sensitive information; any time someone asks for something like this out of the blue, it should be a red flag!