College Students Job Scams Are on the Rise

This pandemic has paved the way for the rise of unemployment. More than ever, people are having a hard time finding a job, especially for college students.

That’s why if someone receives an email talking about easy employment, anyone could be tempted.

However, reports have revealed that job scammers are mainly targeting college students nowadays. Thus, the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin gave some tips on keeping you or your college student safe from any form of scams.

“Now is about the time of year where their email inbox is inundated with fake job offers. They may look like they’re coming from the school, from financial aid, or a professor, or the college employment office. But typically, in these work at home types of scams, they’re not, they’re just somebody who’s promising a lot of money for very little work. The red flags of the scam are that things proceed very quickly. There’s never a formal interview. The student never talks to the employer in person, and usually things are done over email and then things just kind of start to get weird. They’re asked for bank account information or social security number, or they’re sent some kind of check before work even started,” stated Susan Bach of the Wisconsin BBB.

Types of Jobs To Be Considered as Red Flags

Bach also noted that there are some types of jobs that should be red flags.

“Jobs like mystery shopping scams are very common among students. Jobs where they’re instructed to receive packages and then reship them overseas. Typically items that are in those packages are stolen merchandise, or merchandise purchased with stolen credit cards or things like that. Oftentimes, a red flag is they’re supposed to purchase gift cards, maybe they’re testing payment systems of Walmart or Western Union – with a counterfeit check that they received. Then they’re asked to send those gift card numbers or read the numbers over the phone. Those are the common scams that we see,” she added.

Bach confirmed that people in their 20s are most likely to fall victim to this type of scam.

“People in their 20′s, this is the most common target for employment scams, and the people who lose the most money. Another piece of advice – just because it comes into your college e-mail box, doesn’t mean it’s been approved by your college, sanctioned by your college, or even that it’s been filtered through your spam filter. They’re just randomly sending and hoping that somebody bites,” Bach said.

According to officials, it’s best to do your research on the company. Make sure that you find its professional website and contact information.

Also, the authorities are advising everyone to look for testimonials of people talking about their experience.

Editor’s note on “Fraudsters Target College Students; Job Scams, and More”:

If you believe to have been affected by this, please feel free to contact us today!

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