E-mail Requests for Passwords: Real or Fake?

I have a blog about all kind of SPAMs which make thru' my inbox spam filter.

Recently, I received an Email sent by the University Information Technology Services. Which I am going to put forth, as it may be informative for college students in USA or elsewhere.

Message follows:
***************************

Not quite sure if that request to "send your password or risk losing
your account" is real or fake?

Now you can compare that (phony) request with a number of phishing
samples that have been analyzed and dissected to help you identify the
characteristics of fraudulent e-mails.

I've taken a range of false messages received by University students and
staff over the past six months and created a series of web pages that
can help you understand how phishers work and how to spot them.

The samples can be found here:
http://www.albany.edu/its/security_threats_phishing_samples.htm

As always, no University employee will ask you, in any format, to
divulge your campus passwords. Passwords should always be kept
confidential and never shared with anyone. Please feel free to forward
any messages to me if you are in doubt, or would like to alert me to
their campus distribution.

(published with permission)