Case Study

“Can you grab some gift cards
for a faculty event?”

The most common scam targeting universities. Scammers impersonate deans, provosts, and department chairs to trick staff into buying gift cards. suss. catches it at 70% risk instantly.

Documented at Michigan, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, NC State, Chapman, and 50+ more. Low dollar per incident — but it never stops.

What happened

Dean impersonation email

Scammers impersonate deans, provosts, and department chairs via email. They request staff purchase gift cards for “faculty appreciation,” “student prizes,” or “a confidential event.” The emails use the real executive's name and often their title.

$1K-$5K per incident, ongoing since 2023

Each incident typically costs $1,000-$5,000. Staff buy Apple, Amazon, or Google Play gift cards, scratch the codes, and send photos to the scammer. Once redeemed, the funds are unrecoverable.

50+ universities documented, still active

This is the single most common scam targeting university staff. Michigan, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, NC State, and Chapman have all published warnings. The campaigns are ongoing and show no sign of slowing.

Source: University of Michigan Safe Computing

How suss. would have caught it

We ran a typical executive gift card phishing email through our API. Here's what fired.

70%

High Risk

Executive Gift Card Scam Detected

4 threat indicators fired

90%

Executive requesting gift card purchase

executive_gift_card

85%

Gift card used as payment method

gift_card_payment

75%

Authority figure impersonation detected

authority_impersonation

70%

Isolation tactic — 'keep this between us'

isolation_tactic

Recommended actions

1NO legitimate executive will ever ask you to buy gift cards via email
2Call the person directly to verify — use a known number, not one from the email
3Report this email to your IT security team immediately
4Do not scratch the cards or send photos of the codes
5If you already sent gift card codes, contact IT immediately — the cards may be recoverable if not yet redeemed

The cost of no protection

$1K-$5K

Per incident

50+

Universities documented

Ongoing

Since 2023, still active

Why this scam works so well at universities

Deference to authority

When a dean or provost asks for something, staff respond quickly. The hierarchical culture of academia makes people less likely to question unusual requests from leadership.

Public leadership directories

University websites list every dean, chair, and administrator with full name, title, and department. Scammers need only copy-paste.

Plausible cover stories

'Faculty appreciation lunch,' 'student award prizes,' 'visiting speaker gift' — universities regularly buy gift cards for events. The request seems normal.

Isolation tactics work

'Keep this between us — it's a surprise for the department' creates secrecy that prevents the victim from verifying with colleagues.

Purpose-built impersonation detection

Executive Impersonation

Detects emails impersonating university leadership — deans, provosts, chairs, and VPs — with urgency-based gift card or payment requests.

Gift Card Payment Detection

Identifies any request for gift card purchases as payment. No legitimate business transaction uses Apple, Amazon, or Google Play gift cards.

Social Engineering Tactics

Flags isolation language ('keep this between us'), secrecy requests, and artificial urgency designed to bypass normal verification.

Sender Authenticity

Analyzes sender domain, display name spoofing, and reply-to address mismatches to identify impersonation before the employee reads the email.

With suss. vs. without

Without suss.

'Dean Smith' emails asking for gift cards
Staff member goes to Target on lunch break
Buys $2,000 in Apple gift cards
Scratches codes and sends photos
Codes redeemed within minutes
Real Dean Smith has no idea it happened

With suss.

Email scanner flags gift card request instantly
Warning badge: 'Executive Gift Card Scam Detected'
Staff sees 70% HIGH RISK before reading further
Calls Dean Smith directly — confirms it's fake
Reports to IT — campaign blocked campus-wide
$2,000 saved, scammer gets nothing

How the pilot works

Deploy via Chrome Enterprise

Push the suss. extension to all staff browsers via managed policy. Gift card scam detection is active from day one with zero configuration.

Email scanner watches every message

Every email in Gmail and Outlook is scanned in the background. Executive impersonation and gift card requests are flagged before the staff member reads them.

Warning appears in context

A clear warning badge appears directly on the suspicious email — not in a separate tool. The staff member sees the risk before they can act on the request.

IT sees the full campaign

The campus dashboard reveals how many staff were targeted, which executives were impersonated, and which departments are being hit — enabling proactive warnings.

Start a free 30-day pilot

Stop the most common university scam before it costs another dollar. Deploy in minutes via Chrome Enterprise — zero training required.

Request pilot access View enterprise plans

50+ universities documented. Ongoing since 2023. Your campus is likely already being targeted.

Free for qualified universities and government institutions

524

Scam signals

132

Consumer fraud

94.5%

Precision

93.2%

Recall

“Can you grab some gift cardsfor a faculty event?”