Be careful of Phishing Scams
This semester there have been several instances of “phishing” scam emails being sent to Fredonia students, under the disguise of job postings. Some are very convincing but they are also very dangerous. The Career Development Office would like to share the following tips for recognizing and avoiding these scams.
- If the email comes from a Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or other personal account, as opposed to an organization’s email domain, it should be considered a red flag.
- Phishing scams may ask for personal or confidential information, money, or bank account access. Never provide this information!
- It’s common for these scams to have poor grammar and spelling errors, especially capitalization errors. Job descriptions are often vague and easy to qualify for.
- Ask yourself: is this too good to be true? Jobs that offer $300 a week for minimal work that can be done at home around your school schedule are unlikely to be real.
- Look up the company and job online – not by following a link in the email but by doing your own search. If the job isn’t listed on the organization’s website, it’s almost certainly a fake.
These scams can be very persuasive. Therefore, if you think you may have fallen for one, here’s how to proceed:
- Stop corresponding with your contacts, but save any texts, voicemails and/or emails.
- If you’ve provided banking information to a possible scammer, contact your bank immediately to discuss the situation with them.
- Alert the Career Development Office at 716-673-3327 or careers@fredonia.edu so we can take steps as well.
Whether you’re seeking your first full-time professional job, a part time job for the summer or school year, or an internship, you can use FREDNetwork. You can also come to see a CDO counselor for assistance with your search.