This week several employees reported receiving calls from someone claiming to be from Adobe asking them if they wished to receive emailed documents about their products.  Those who reported the calls declined, so I can’t say if the calls were legitimate sales calls from Adobe or if they were pretexting calls.  Regardless of which they were, agreeing to be emailed documents usually doesn’t end well.

If the calls are legitimate sales calls, you could be agreeing to receiving hundreds of spam emails.  If they are pretexting calls, the email they send you could have malware attached to it or contain a link to a webpage spoofing a legitimate site designed to steal your login credentials.  To add to the misery, they could then take any information that you have given them over the phone and use it to create additional phishing emails that are almost impossible to detect.

Unfortunately this is the second time that we have had these type of calls on campus. As pretexting is on the rise, I suspect we are going to see a lot more of them in the coming months. This is a gentle reminder to be alert if someone calls you asking you for information they should already have or asks for personal information they shouldn’t know.

If it is a sales call and you are interested in their services, hang up the phone and call the company using a phone number listed on their official website.  If it is from an organization that you know, hang up and call them directly using a phone number you know is legitimate.  Never call them back on a phone number they give you.