Yesterday I got an email from my PhD adviser. He seemed to be in a bit of a pickle and asked me to help him out. How could I not? I wrote yes and hit reply. Then it dawned on me.
The email wasn't written in his usual tone. The urgency, the request no to contact him by alternative means. He's never ended an email to me with regards. Alarm bells all over, yet I had gone ahead and replied anyway.
The thing that made me reconsider was the return address. dptdirector.sector@gmail.com isn't his. I hit undo in Gmail, stopped the time-delayed sending of my email, and send one to his real email asking what was up with this. Hours later came the response that I hadn't been the first one getting such an email, and that he had had no hand in sending it.
A day later, I wish I had followed up on this email. What was the purpose? What kind of information was I supposed to be tricked out of? Are scams almost sophisticated enough now for me to fall for them?
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