Announcements

FROM: University Technology Services RE: WARNING: Pet Sitting/ Baby Sitting & Online Job Scams
Sent:
12/12/2019 10:55:52 AM
To: Students, Faculty, Staff

Recently an e-mail went out to several users looking for a pet sitter/baby sitter for someone moving to the area. They asked potential candidates to reply to an e-mail with their phone number to follow up for additional details. The pay rate worked out to be about $350 for eight hours of work. This is a SCAM!

This is a somewhat common internet scam known as Advance Fee Check Scam. It frequently comes up as a job offer, targeting users selling things online, or as a lottery scam.

The premise is you will be contacted by another party offering you money to perform a service or to sell your goods. The person on the other end will mail you a check worth more than the item or service is worth with an explanation that you will need to purchase supplies or a service or wire the extra to a third party. 

The only problem is these checks are fake and can take your bank several weeks for the check to bounce. Wire transfers or gift card payments are immediate and cannot be reversed.
 
In order to keep yourself safe online keep several things in mind:
     -Is this too good to be true?
     -Are they asking me to wire money?
     -Are they acting with an extreme sense of urgency?
     -Is the rate far outside of norms? e.g. $40 an hour for a job that normally pays $15 an hour?
 
For more information on keeping yourself safe please visit these links:

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/portland/news/press-releases/oregon-fbi-tech-tuesday-building-a-digital-defense-against-check-cashing-scams

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/anatomy-fake-check-scam

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/jobseekers-beware-dont-fall-prey-to-this-advance-fee-scam-070715.html