On May 8, 2025 at approximately 1:30pm EDT, the following email was sent to members of the Dartmouth community.
Subject: Loan Offer
Sender: YOUSSEF HASSAN AHMED <youssefhassanahmed4587@gmail.com>
Sheikh Zayeds Investments and Loan Company
Building 312,
Road 1536, Block 951 Askar,
Kingdom of Bahrain
Dear,
My name is Mr. Youssef Hassan Ahmed, the director at Sheikh Zayeds Investments and Loan, We are independent financial advisors offering high quality and independent financial services for Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar residents and expatriates living abroad.
We offer corporate and personal loans at 3% interest rate for the duration of 15 years.
We also offer 1% commission to brokers who introduce project owners for finance or other opportunities.
Kindly keep me posted if you are interested in more details.
Regards,
Mr. Youssef Hassan Ahmed
Director
Sheikh Zayeds Investments and Loan
This email contains the following indications of a phishing attack:
- The sender email address (youssefhassanahmed4587@gmail.com) is a Gmail address instead of an email from a company domain.
- All of the recipients of the email were BCC'd, a common pattern when attackers send similar attacks to many recipients.
- On a related note, the email is not addressed to a specific person but instead just opens with "Dear,"
If you receive an email similar to this one, it is recommended that you take the following actions:
- Do not reply to the message
- Mark the message as spam or junk
- Forward the message to phishing@dartmouth.edu
- Block the sender