York Information Security has received reports of a gift card scam circulating via email. In the gift card scam, the perpetrator pretends to be your supervisor or someone you know and asks that you purchase some Amazon gift cards.

The email message may start out by saying, "I need you to pick up some Amazon gift cards in $XX increment each" or "Are you available?." The scammer then asks that you scratch the back of the gift cards and send the back codes.

This is a variation of an old scam, and we are providing these reminders to members of the community:

• Be suspicious of communications with urgent requests from executives. Review the sending email address closely to see whether it is from a YorkU address. Check with the apparent sender by phone call, chat, or in-person. Send a separate email to the person's official YorkU address. Do not reply to the request itself.
• Report emails impersonating people at YorkU by clicking on the Report Phish button or by sending them to abuse@yorku.ca. Include full message headers if possible.

York Information Security routinely report scam emails to the appropriate anti-scam and anti-spam organizations.