There has been an increase in reports from members of the Harvard community of email and text message-based scams impersonating Harvard faculty and administrators.
The scam typically begins with a short message with a variation on “Are you available?” If you respond, the ensuing conversation leads to a request for you to purchase gift cards, then send photographs of them to the requestor. Any time an unsolicited email or text conversation turns into a request to purchase gift cards, it is very likely to be this scam. Sadly, victim losses are rarely recoverable.
If you receive such a message impersonating a member of the Harvard community, discontinue the conversation and forward the email (or screenshot of the text message) to phishing@harvard.edu.