Work-From-Home Scams Targeting College Students

According to the article linked below, a recent work-from-home scam has been targeting college students. These malicious actors are targeting students via emails that appear to be sent from a college or company advertising fake work-from-home job opportunities.

The malicious actor will use these emails to obtain the students personal information. Once the malicious actor has the students information, they will send a counterfeit check instructing the students to deposit the check into their personal checking account. The malicious actor will then ask the student to withdraw the money and make a payment necessary for the job.

The article states that students who do fall victim to this scam can experience bank accounts being closed due to fraudulent activity and a report filed by the bank with a credit bureau or even law enforcement. The student would also be responsible for reimbursing the bank.

Tips to help spot and avoid these type of scams:

• Research the company first, look for a legitimate website and contact information. Try to find what others are saying about the company as well.

• If they are contacting you and claiming to be from the University, locate the sender’s information through the school website and confirm whether the offer is real or not.

• Look for bad grammar and spelling.

• Offers of employment or pay without an interview are red flags. Legitimate jobs usually want to see who they are hiring.

• Never send funds in the form of cash, check, gift cards or wire transfer to secure a job.

• If you do receive a check from a scam similar to the one above, please do not cash the check.

• If you have provided any banking or financial information to the suspected scammers, please notify your bank or financial institution immediately.

If you do receive any email that you suspect is a scam, please do not click on any URL or reply. Either of those actions confirms to the sender that your email address is valid. Please forward the message (with the email headers) to security@umbc.edu. 

How do I forward full email headers?

https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970  

For more information, please check out:

https://www.winknews.com/2020/06/17/work-from-home-scam-targets-florida-college-students/