Report a Phishing Attempt

Reporting a phishing attempt will help UB to stop future attempts and help to keep you safe.

What is phishing?

Phishing refers to an attack that uses email to trick or fool you into taking an action, such as clicking on a link (including a link to a Google or online web form) or opening an attachment and then subsequently asks for the user provide a set of login credentials or some other sort of restricted data.

Phishing should not be confused with spam.  Spam involves irrelevant or unsolicited email messages typically sent to a large number of people for the purposes of advertising. It is often from someone you do not know or is sent anonymously. Learn how to report messages to help eliminate spam on UB servers.  

What do we need from you?

  1. Follow the appropriate instructions below to first display the message headers.
    • Gmail: 
      1. Open the message. 
      2. Click the three black dots in the top-right corner of the message.
      3. Select Show original, which should be listed toward the bottom of these options. The message will open in a separate window with the full message headers starting after the word Received
    • Microsoft Outlook for Windows: 
      1. Double-click the message to open it in a new window. 
      2. Select the File tab, and then click Properties. The data is next to Internet headers.
    • Outlook on the web and Outlook Web App: 
      1. Double-click the message to open it. 
      2. Click the options icon (three dots near the top right)
      3. Click View > View Message Details
    • Outlook for Mac OS X: 
      1. In your Inbox (or other folder), right-click or control-click the message
      2. Select View Source
    • Thunderbird (Windows, Mac OS X): 
      1. Click View
      2. Select Headers
      3. Choose All
    • Mail (Mac OS X): 
      • With the message selected, from the View menu, select Message
      • Select either All Headers or Long Headers
  2. Select and copy the header information.
  3. Return to the email message.
  4. Click Forward and enter abuse@buffalo.edu into the To: field.
  5. Paste the header information (obtained from above) into the top of the forwarded message.
  6. Click Send.

See also

Still need help?

Contact the UBIT Help Center.