Scammers Are Going Back to School: How TekStream and Cloudflare Are Protecting Campuses from the New Wave of Social Engineering Attacks 

By Andrea Alaniz, Account Executive

Inside the Scam: No Links. No Attachments. Just Conversation. 

Scammers are getting smarter, and quieter. Cloudflare Email Security recently uncovered a rising wave of email scams targeting the education sector with a surprisingly low-tech approach: plain-text emails with no malicious links, no attachments, and no red flags… at least, not at first glance. 

Instead, these scammers impersonate trusted faculty or staff using freemail accounts like Gmail or Yahoo, offering personal items for sale—Airstream trailers, guitars, power tools—and use natural, casual language that mimics everyday internal communication. Once a student or staff member responds, the scam escalates into financial fraud or identity theft. 

This isn’t your standard phishing attempt. This is social engineering with a syllabus. 

Why Education Institutions Are Prime Targets 

Universities, colleges, and school districts are especially vulnerable to these attacks for three key reasons: 

  1. Decentralized Communication: Faculty and staff often communicate via a mix of internal and personal email, making impersonation harder to catch. 
  1. High Trust Environment: Students and colleagues are more likely to trust informal emails from “someone they know.” 
  1. Limited Security Staffing: Many districts lack dedicated cybersecurity teams or modern behavioral detection systems. 

These factors make it easy for scammers to blend in and launch attacks that don’t rely on traditional tactics—just persuasion and patience. 

TekStream + Cloudflare: A Systems Integrator Approach to Modern Email Defense 

At TekStream, we partner closely with Cloudflare as a systems integrator (SI) to help school districts and universities modernize their security posture. Together, we help institutions move beyond traditional, signature-based email protection and adopt behavioral intelligence and real-time threat mitigation. 

Cloudflare’s advanced Email Security solution identifies: 

  • Freemail accounts impersonating internal staff 
  • Language that mirrors casual internal dialogue 
  • Sudden conversations involving high-ticket items 
  • Deviation from known communication patterns 

TekStream’s role is to help you get there—fast and frictionless. We assist education customers with: 

  • Deployment & Integration of Cloudflare Email Security 
  • Strategic Roadmapping & Budgeting Support 
  • Ongoing Optimization & Policy Tuning 
  • MAP & AWS Funding Alignment (where applicable) 

Think of us as your on-campus cybersecurity transformation partner—whether you’re just starting your cloud journey or leveling up existing investments. 

Real Conversations, Real Risks 

Here’s what makes this scam so dangerous: it doesn’t trigger traditional alarms. There’s no malware, no phishing link, and no fancy spoofing. Just a convincing message from a “teacher” or “administrator” that feels familiar enough to trust. 

That’s why relying on static tools alone no longer works. 

Cloudflare + TekStream ensure that your security keeps up with your students—and your adversaries. 

 Be Proactive, Not Reactive 

Cybersecurity in education can’t be an afterthought. Every inbox is a potential entry point. Don’t wait for a scam to unfold—equip your staff and students with intelligent email protection that understands both content and context. 

If your district or campus is concerned about the rise in socially engineered email scams—or simply wants a better way to protect communication—reach out to TekStream today. 

We’ll help you explore the right solutions from Cloudflare, show you how other institutions are staying secure, and help you move fast, smart, and safely. 

Let’s Lock Down Learning 
Ready to outsmart social engineering? 


Connect with TekStream today to schedule a Cloudflare Email Security demo or readiness assessment. 

About the Author

Andrea Yvette Alaniz is a cybersecurity and cloud solutions specialist with deep expertise in Cloudflare-centric architectures. She supports higher education, state and local government, enterprises, startups, and SMBs in designing secure, high-performance systems using Cloudflare One, WAF, CDN, DDoS protection, and secure DNS. Andrea helps startups identify and close technical gaps, optimize architectures, and scale securely as a Cloudflare Startups partner. She is passionate about protecting children online and helping SLG agencies secure their infrastructure at the edge.