Students received a phishing email in Canvas claiming they were dropped from their Spring 2026 classes around midnight on Monday.
The message said, “An important enrollment notice: you have been dropped from the 2026 Spring semester classes because you do not meet one or more enrollment requirements. Enrollment requirements include passing a prerequisite course . Kindly view the attach to revalidate your courses.” Typos are often a giveaway that an email is a scam.
It provided a link to a PDF stating the student had been dropped from their classes for missing a course prerequisite or co-requisite. That link sent students to a Microsoft site, which led to a form asking students for personal information.
The university sent out a pair of emails urging students not to click the links. If they had, the university said to immediately change their password on Okta or contact the help desk at 985-549-5555 for assistance in changing their password.
“As a reminder, the University Registrar will never notify you of significant enrollment changes via an unofficial or unsolicited email link. Always verify your course status directly through Workday,” the message on Canvas said.
The phishing message came from an account claiming to be sophomore music education major Carter Cade. Cade said he did not send that message and found out about the situation at the same time as everyone else.
“When I found out that this was happening, I was scared that the University was going to take action against me, and I was afraid that this would ruin my reputation as a student,” he said.
Cade said he received several emails and direct messages on Canvas and social media from students asking about the situation. He said some of the messages were hurtful.
“By the time I realized what was happening, students had already started blowing up my email and Canvas with questions like ‘What does this mean?’ or people denying that their classes were being dropped, but some of the emails were awful, like one of them told me to shove it,” Cade said.
Several students were reacting to the phishing email on Monday morning, fearful about their classes suddenly being dropped.
“I opened [the link] and it said if you want to cancel your classes being dropped, press the link. I pressed it, then it asked for my information,” freshman marketing major Megan Estopinal said. “After I filled it out, I was nervous I was going to get hacked.”
The phishing scam took place amidst an ongoing effort from the university to promote online security and combat these kinds of scams. For example, the university sent out a fake phishing email last December to help faculty and staff practice catching malicious emails. Also, on May 1, Google Calendar will be updated to better protect users from phishing emails.
Cade said the university has not reached out to him, but the Help Desk recommended he change his password.
“I am truly sorry that this happened and I hope you all don’t turn this against me and start disliking me as a person,” Cade said.
Students can access Okta on SLU’s website to change their password or contact the help desk at 985-549-5555 for assistance in changing their password.
