The University of Alabama Office of Information Technology recently warned students to be wary of an email with the subject line “New Year Upgrading,” saying it was an attempt to steal usernames and passwords. The email was the latest in a series of scams attempting to steal students’ login information that began appearing increasingly frequently in inboxes during the fall semester.

Last semester, the University routinely sent emails warning students not to fall for email scams. Students were warned not to open emails that looked like they came from the administration, but in fact came from fake websites and were trying to steal students’ email and password information.

Ashley Ewing, director of information security and compliance, said spammers were responsible for the scam emails in the fall.

“In order for a spammer to make money, he needs to send out millions of emails, and the easiest way to do that is to gather other people’s information,” Ewing said

Ewing also said spammers are generally not interested in placing malicious viruses on your computer but simply in stealing your information.

“They will lure you to a website in order to trick you into typing in your email and password information,” Ewing said. “The idea behind phishing is that for every thousand emails a spammer sends he will get 100 responses and 100 more people’s information.”

Different online scams have been a problem for many in recent years.

Frank Lopez, a fifth year senior majoring in kinesiology, was scammed last semester by someone who claimed to be leasing a house in Tuscaloosa.

“We heard about the house from a mutual friend who had found the listing on Craigslist,” Lopez said. “To me, at least, it seemed a little sketchy from the start.”

Lopez explained that the scammer used faith as a way to make himself seem more trustworthy, citing a mission trip to Africa as his reason for leaving the house behind in Tuscaloosa.

“He was very accommodating and willing to work with us,” Lopez said. “One of my roommates even talked to him on the phone.”

Lopez said he began to get suspicious when the person asked for a mailed deposit in order to receive the keys to the house. He eventually called the real estate agent listed for that neighborhood, who told him that the house had already been rented out earlier that semester.

In another scam, Dan Mirolli, a 2013 UA graduate, almost paid a full semester of tuition to a fake study abroad company in China. He found the company through an email list and was told to send in his money for the program, but he felt compelled to research the company before he did so.

“I went searching because I had read an article earlier that talked about completely fake Apple stores in China and thought, ‘If Apple can’t guarantee quality control in China, I better do my own research,’” Mirolli said.

Mirolli was able to catch the scam before he sent in any money but warned students to be wary of certain signs that might indicate phishing.

“Any delay in communication with an organization, mention of wire transfers, mailing checks can usually be proven as probable existence of fraud with a little digging,” Mirolli warned.

Lopez and Mirolli were fortunate in that they were able to catch the scams in time. Ewing explained that there is no way of knowing exactly how many UA students were affected by the spammers, but he said that education is the best way to prevent it in the future.

“We can’t stop emails from being sent, but we can teach people what to be suspicious of,” Ewing said.