Scammers are posing as retirement planning professionals to collect personal information. Report and delete spam emails about non-WSU retirement counseling and services.
HRS Benefits is aware spam emails are often distributed to WSU email accounts offering to provide retirement counseling and services. These communications are not associated with WSU or any of our authorized retirement vendors and have been/should be reported as spam to IT via abuse@wsu.edu. It appears the spammers are using a variety of sender email accounts, therefore resulting in the email being delivered to WSU faculty and staff and being difficult to block.
The scam: The scammers present themselves through email as a retirement planning professional who offers to set up an appointment for consultation. During the appointment, the scammer asks for personal identifying information, such as a Social Security number, and appears to have knowledge about your DRS or WSURP retirement account.
Any retirement communications from actual WSU retirement vendors, will come from @drs.wa.gov (PERS, TRS and LEOFF retirement accounts), @tiaa.org (WSURP and VIP retirement accounts), Voya Financial (Deferred Compensation and PERS3/TRS 3 third-party administrator) or from WSU directly using hrs.benefits@wsu.edu or hrs@wsu.edu.
Communications received from other email accounts are not associated with approved WSU retirement vendors. If a vendor/provider outside of those identified above were to issue vetted communications to WSU faculty and staff, a notice from HRS would be issued to inform the university community that the vendor had been approved to send the communication.
What to do if you get the fraudulent email: If you receive one of these emails, don’t open it—delete it and do not set up an appointment or any other appointment they may offer. If you wish to have this type of service, contact the authorize retirement plans (DRS, TIAA, VOYA) to request that service at no charge to participants. You also can pursue consulting outside of the WSU retirement plans, but you should initiate contacting financial advisors and be cautious of those who reach out to you offering services.
Never give personal information, such as social security numbers and passwords, to someone you don’t know without verifying they are who they say.