Fraudsters Nab Info On 150 People At U. of Michigan and Go Phishing

After compromising email accounts of some students and staff, scammers, posing as the IRS, sent the victims bogus emails in an attempt to steal even more of their personal information.

Recipients who clicked on a link in the email messages were tricked into divulging data such as their names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and passwords, according to a notification released on June 4.

"The scammers are setting up fake Google Forms and sending emails that link to the forms," MLive reports. 

The sham emails request that the recipient "validate" personal information by entering it into the phony forms. But the data actually is being collected by criminals

Another ploy uses an "academic publishing" gambit. The emails purport to come from real faculty at other institutions asking U-M faculty to share articles by clicking links. The links require a login to get online copies of the articles. But the login page is fake and steals the faculty member's name and password.