Did anyone else get an email from Vanderbilt about a gift card?

Beauchene105 · September 2023

I received an email today, and the reason I'm wondering if it's a scam is because it says "Happy Holiday!" at the end. I do recall some detail about a drawing for $25 Amazon gift cards for those who participated in a survey on ALZConnected. I tried to call Vanderbilt University's medical center to find out about this, but no one called me back.

The email asked me to "click" to add the $25 to my Amazon account. This just sounds fishy. It sounds like someone is trying to access my Amazon account.

Emily 123 · September 2023

It does sound suspicious.

Quick tip: If you right click on the sender's email name in the address box at the top of the email it will show you their complete [real] email address.

It might look like it's from 'Vanderbilt University', but a right-click may then show something like ''[email protected]''

Or a right click may show you '[email protected].'

The ' @noreply.com ' address can let scammers generate an email header with an entity's name (Like Vandy) to make it look real.

Almost all my junk email lately, that looks a bit fishy uses the '@noreply.com' address.

Maybe a moderator here knows the answer about the giftcards?

[Deleted User] · September 2023

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Beauchene105 · September 2023

I just received an email from the Vanderbilt doctor addressing the concern. He states an apology for the "happy holiday" which "may have raised concerns about its authenticity". (I'll say!!) I hope now that it is legit, because I found this doctor's email address on the Vanderbilt website and it does match. Just to be sure, I will email Vanderbilt Medical Center (since my phone call wasn't returned) and double-check.

Here's the new email. It would be good if those in charge of ALZConnected could check into this:

Dear Survey Respondents,

Thank you so much for supporting us by filling out the survey questionnaires posted on ALZConnected or the Alzheimer’s Association website

As planned, we randomly selected 48 respondents from the 214 respondents who filled either a phone number or email address in the survey to issue Amazon gift cards (2 $100 cards, 6 $50 cards, and 40 $25 cards). If you received an email this morning (September 1st) regarding an Amazon gift card from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, please take it. The message content reads as follows,

“Greetings, Survey Respondent, We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your devoted time and dedication to participating in our research survey on the perception and utilization of online peer support among informal dementia caregivers through either ALZConnected or the Alzheimer’s Association’s website. We hope you will find great enjoyment in this gift card. Happy Holiday! With warm regards, Vanderbilt University Medical Center & Alzheimer’s Association.”

(Our apologies for the “happy holiday” at the end of the message, which may have raised concerns about its authenticity).

For those who agreed to participate in a follow-up survey, we will send you a link to a short follow-up survey (about 10 minutes) through email.

As compensation for participating in this follow-up survey, everyone who completes the survey will get a $15 Amazon gift card. In addition to this $15 gift card, everyone will have a chance to win another one of 10 $50 Amazon gift cards.

Again, we sincerely appreciate your time and consideration of our research.

I started this research topic because I once cared for my grandfather, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 15 years ago. I believe online community provides a convenient way for informal caregivers to obtain resources and support. For some caregiving challenges, we can get solutions. However, most time, by reading online posts or chatting with others, we may feel belonging or social integration, which helps us resist dynamic, unsolvable caregiving challenges. I acknowledge that peer support in online communities is neither perfect nor suitable for every caregiver. I want to find a solution to make it beneficial for as many caregivers or their loved ones as possible.

If you have any questions regarding our research, please contact me through this email and I will be happy to discuss it.

Thanks,

Zhijun Yin

--

Zhijun Yin, PhD, MS

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Computer Science

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

2525 West End Ave. Suite 1475, Nashville, TN, 37027

Office: (615)-936-3690

Email: [email protected]