Notice to Suppliers: Fraudulent Purchase Order Email Activity

Published on Apr 28, 2017

We want to alert you to an active email scam involving purchase orders and request for product quotations that purport to originate from The University of Chicago but are in fact fraudulent.  While The University cannot prevent this illegal activity, we are actively working with law enforcement to investigate these fraudulent email contacts.

We can share some common traits or themes of these fraudulent emails that may help reduce risk to your company in becoming a financial victim of this scam:

  • The email message is poorly written, with misspellings and awkward sentence structure
  • The sender's email address or website link are not authentic to The University of Chicago
  • The message requests shipment of products to non-University of Chicago addresses
  • The message may include an attachment that is designed to look like a purchase order, may include a logo or other graphic, and a signature that may look legitimate
If you believe you have received a fraudulent email that appears to be from The University of Chicago, you may submit an Ask A Purchasing/Payment Question form via the online portal to verify its legitimacy before responding to the email or filling the order.  You may also contact the Shared Services Help Desk by phone, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at (773) 702-5800.   Procurement Services and The University of Chicago value our partnership with you - and appreciate the very important role you play in providing goods and services to our faculty, students and staff in support of their academic, research, and patient care endeavors.  Please know that we are assisting to the fullest extent we are able with the investigation of this illegal activity by reporting all fraudulent emails to appropriate authorities.