SOUTH BEND -- Students at IU South Bend are keeping a close eye on their email these days. The university sent them an alert Friday notifying them about a phishing scam.

While these scams are common, the perpetrators in this case are targeting students in a different way. IU South Bend sophmore Eric Bascom logs onto the university's website every day.

"Just to check my e-mail, normal routine, just to see what's going on," said Bascom. But when he logged on Friday, this is what he found: "This is an I-T alert, verify your IUSB email now."

The alert was a way to notify students about a phishing scam. It's something the university is used to. In fact they get several of them every month, usually from banks. But this one is different.

"The perpetrators identified themselves as the IU South Bend Help Desk. That's our I-T help desk where any I-T concerns are addressed," said IU South Bend Director of Communications Ken Baierl.

This makes the university believe the scammers aren't necessarily looking to gain financial information about the students. "In this case we think the perpetrators are looking for storage space on our servers to store bootleg movies," said Baierl.

"I'm shocked because this phishing thing hurts our privacy. It's an invasion of our privacy. They'll get all my addresses, my emails, they'll get my financial records, consisting of my financial aid, my scholarships. They'd be able to add on to bills," said Bascom.

Which is why the university responds quickly by sending out these alerts. But Bascom says that's not enough.

“I've upgraded the protection on my computer. I've added Norton Utilities. I've also gone to the I-T lab at Indiana University for them to fix my machine to make sure it's completely safe," said Bascom.

This doesn't just affect the South Bend branch. All IU campuses have been notified about this phishing scam.

The university says students should never respond to these emails. If they do, they should reset their password and contact the I-T department immediately.