Western Sydney University students receive scam email saying their degrees have been ‘revoked’

Thousands of Western Sydney University students and alumni have been thrown into panic after receiving a fraudulent email falsely claiming their degrees had been revoked.

The email was sent to students’ personal email addresses from an official Western Sydney University email domain on Monday evening.

The email read: “We regret to inform you that, following a thorough review, the decision has been made to permanently exclude you from any further study at Western Sydney University.”

“As a result, any existing certificates or awards previously issued to you are hereby revoked.

“This action has been taken in accordance with the Western Sydney University Act 1997, the Western Sydney University By-law 2017, and the relevant policies outlined on the Policy DDS platform. Please be advised that, pursuant to university policy, the decision of the Board of Trustees is final and binding.

“It may not be subject to any internal appeal or review within the university. Should you wish to explore the possibility of a legal appeal outside of the University, we recommend that you consult with a solicitor to understand your rights.”

The email also included each student’s identification number.

A second fraudulent email was issued around the same time by “Parking Permits” with the subject line: “Urgent: WSU’s Ongoing Security Flaws and Lack of Action”.

The email, which was uploaded to Reddit, explained that the university was subject to a data breach.

“Just got a mass email from Western Sydney University’s official email account. Wild. WSU’s security really needs work!” the user wrote on Reddit.

Western Sydney University has since issued an apology for the data breach and confirmed they have informed NSW Police.

“Western Sydney University is aware of fraudulent emails sent to students and graduates, with some falsely claiming that they have been excluded from the University or that their qualifications have been revoked,” a spokesperson told The Nightly.

“These emails are not legitimate and were not issued by the University. We are reaching out to inform people that the email is fraudulent and have informed NSW Police.

“As this is part of an ongoing police investigation, we are unable to provide further comment at this time. We sincerely apologise for any concern this may have caused.”

Students thrown into panic

Current student, Olivia, who asked not to use her last name, said the email caused everyone to “freak out”.

“I’m in my last semester of uni and after working so hard for four years, to think it all could have been taken away, it was stressful.”

“We were all panicking when (the email) came through.”

Olivia shared with The Nightly messages from a group chat with her university friends, highlighting their distress.

“My heart dropped a little,” one student wrote.

“I would have cried,” said another, who, fortunately did not receive the email.

“We are like four weeks from finishing” a third wrote.

It is not yet known how many students received the email or whether other private information has been accessed.

The university has around 50,000 current students.

It was involved in another data breach earlier this year, when the personal data of around 10,000 students ended up on the dark web.

A former student was arrested in June over a series of hacks to hit the school spanning over four years.