Phishing scam: McGill Notice, Action Required
A phishing email is circulating among the McGill community. See details below. If you receive it, please do not interact with it.
If you already clicked on a link or submitted personal information (including your McGill password):
- Call the IT Service Desk at (514) 398-3398.
- Change your McGill Password immediately.
- Follow the McGill Password Reset Checklist.
Details about the phishing attack:
Subject of message: “McGill Notice – September 02, 2025: Action Required”
Note: The message uses variations of this subject line.
From: a compromised McGill account
Description of the attack:
The email uses urgency to try and get you to provide your McGill credentials. It includes content such as:
- “This is the last time we will notify you that we'll stop processing incoming emails in your school account, and the reason is you failed to verify your Microsoft account which may lead to the permanent deletion of your account from our database in the next few hours.”
- "CLICK HERE to cancel the shutdown process.”
Engaging with the message could lead to your account being compromised, malware being installed on your device, or other types of cyberfraud.
Images of Phishing Message:
See an example of the message at the top of this page. Personal information has been removed from the image.
Key Awareness Information:
- When you find suspicious emails in your Inbox, report them immediately by using the Report Phishing button in Outlook.
- Never click on a link, file share, or open attachments from someone you don't recognize or if you're not expecting the message – people you know can be “spoofed” by attackers or could have their accounts compromised.
- If you previously noticed an email or message but can’t find it anymore, it was likely already removed from your McGill mailbox or Teams chats as part of our continuous efforts to protect the McGill community from attacks.
- If the email is already in your Junk Email folder, you do not need to report it.
Learn more about how to detect phishing attacks at: www.mcgill.ca/phishing