Impersonation Scam - Fake Job Offer
“Student Job or Research Assistant Position”
Yes, The Offer Really IS Too Good To Be True.
Below is an example of a job scam reported to the Department of Information Technology (DoIT). The scammer, impersonating one of several faculty members, is using a compromised UMBC account or a Gmail account to send the fake offers. Please note that the name of the from address in the sample below has been removed for privacy reasons.
From: Dr … (Impersonated Person) <r85@umbc.edu> Date: Sun, Feb 28, 2021 at 7:23 AM Subject: Research Assistant Position To: University of Maryland, Baltimore County is seeking a Research Assistant /services of a competent Biological Sciences Student, Administrative Assistant to work Part-time and get paid $350 weekly. Tasks will be carried out remotely. If interested,Do text your name to (646) 396-0260 so as to proceed Best Regards, Impersonated Person Biological Sciences Biological Sciences Bldg, Room ... |
In the example above, the scammer is trying to impersonate a member of UMBC staff and to offer users a part-time job. The email claims that users must contact the sender at the provided phone number to get the job. The job offered in this email though is fake and the message a scam, please do not reply to this or any similar email.
This message does show some red flags that suggest phishing: poor grammar and misplaced capitalization. Notice how words like “also” and “do” are capitalized after a comma. This is not the type of grammar or capitalization most would expect from a professional email.
What to do now?
If you do receive any of these scams shown above or a similar scam, please DO NOT respond any further or click on any URLs. If you have provided any banking or financial information, please notify your bank or financial institution immediately. If you have been sent a check, you should not attempt to cash or deposit it. If you have deposited a check already, please contact your bank and tell them that it may be part of a scam.
Whether or not you responded to the scam, please forward the message (with the email headers) to security@umbc.edu. We will also keep track of any other information you submit about the scammers, such as their phone numbers. If you were sent a check or other materials, please send pictures of it and the envelope they came in.
How do I forward full email headers?
https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970
To read more articles published by DoIT Security please visit:
Posted: March 3, 2021, 4:18 PM