Kathleen O’Leary received a confirmation email Wednesday night for a flight she never booked.
The UF English and history senior was one of many students who received an accidental email around 6 p.m. Wednesday from StudentUniverse, a business that provides students with discount travel and lodging prices nationwide.
The email told students and past customers that the company had received their payment for a group flight, which didn’t exist. StudentUniverse sent the email as a result of an internal human error, said public relations manager Danielle Millerick.
“We extend our deepest apologies to anyone who was concerned about a charge to their credit card, or their personal information as a result of receiving this email,” she said.
Millerick said no personal information has been leaked and the email is unrelated to actual transaction data. StudentUniverse was also never hacked, according to its website.
O’Leary, 21, said a friend initially texted her after receiving the StudentUniverse email and suggested that O’Leary check her inbox, too. O’Leary saw the email at about 8 p.m.
“I feel like things like this just happen, and you just hope they don’t happen to you, and they don’t steal your credit card information,” O’Leary said.
At about 10 p.m., O’Leary said she found out the email was an accident via StudentUniverse’s Twitter account. StudentUniverse then emailed all of those affected by the mistake Thursday morning, apologizing for the mishap.
“I’m going to think again before I consider them,” she said. “They already have my contact information, but it might be a good idea to kind of just clear all of that out.”
Last Spring Break, O’Leary said she used StudentUniverse to book a flight to Washington, D.C. The flight was snowed out, and she received a full refund from the company without hassle.
“You can’t live under a rock,” O’Leary said. “You just have to accept the possibility but hope that the refund process works pretty well.”
Joseph Wilson, a professor in UF’s Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, said students encountering similar emails or phishing attempts should report the email to UF as soon as possible.
“It’s not all that strange,” he said. “Mistakes are going to happen whenever humans are involved.”
Wilson said students should always make sure the website where they’re entering their information is secure. He warned that students should avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi, although UF’s Wi-Fi is much safer.
Students should also use credit cards instead of debit cards whenever possible, according to Wilson, because there’s a smaller chance of liability.
“Any time you give info to anybody, it’s essentially compromised,” he said.
