Broward College students are being targeted by fake job offers or extra earning opportunities scams, putting them in financial and legal risk.
What does a job offers or extra earning opportunities scams look like?
Job offer scams typically work like this: someone contacts you, usually by email, and invites you to apply for or start a job.
These job offers are almost always unsolicited—meaning you never applied or interviewed for the job. In some cases, the scam starts with someone offer to help you with your resume or find a placement in a job.
There are many different kinds of scams. On the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website , you can read about a common scam targeting college students, where you are sent a fake check and asked to handle, transfer, or spend the money for seemingly legitimate purposes like ordering office supplies.
But the money is an illusion. Although you may receive a check, that check will typically bounce. Depending on how you are directed to use the money, you could even be charged with a crime like money laundering or credit card fraud.
Many college students are anxious about finding a job or earning extra cash and these scams use tactics meant to trigger those anxieties. If someone contacts you with
an unexpected job offer, here are some things to look for to determine if it’s a scam.
Scams are unsolicited
“You are selected from your school directory to partake in the ongoing Student Empowerment Program "PART TIME JOB OFFER" reads another scam email.
Any student who has applied for jobs knows the market can be competitive. And just as companies don’t typically offer jobs to a large number of people, they also don’t typically select those people at random.
If you receive an offer for a job you didn’t apply for, and they claim to have found you through “your school directory” or “your school job search,” you are most likely the target of a scam.
How to Identify if you received a phishing email?
Please visit the following article for a few ways you can identify various forms of phishing emails.
Scams are too good to be true
One scam email from “Emely Chester” (no company listed) encourages you to “work from home and earn $500 weekly is not bad for an entry-level position you were chosen randomly for.
Job offer scams entice with unbelievably good pay for very easy work—something that just isn’t that common in the real job market.
If you think you are a victim of a scam or phishing email
- If you think you fell for a scam, protect yourself by stopping any further communication.
- Change any passwords on accounts that were involved in the scam
- Contact any financial institutions involved
- Make a report to your local law enforcement.
- File a complaint at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
- The criminal may threaten you or use your identity for another scam.
Stay safe!
When in doubt, look for these signs, and use your best judgement.