We have received complaints about people receiving fraudulent job offer emails from con-artists. In some of the job offers, the con-artist offers to pay $200 weekly for running errands, scheduling events, booking flights, and making purchases. In others, the con-artist asks the victim to wire transfer money to an account. As is usually the case, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
These job offers are a scam.
The way that the scam works is as follows:
These job offers are a scam.
The way that the scam works is as follows:
- The con-artist will contact you via email and ask you if you are interested in participating in a survey or job assignment.
- If you reply that you are interested, the con-artist will mail you a check for an amount of money and ask you to deposit the money in your bank account.
- The con-artist will then either ask you to quickly buy items and have them shipped to an address or ask you to wire transfer money. They will say that you get to keep $200 of the money from the check as your salary.
- Once you ship the items that you purchase or wire the money, the con-artist will have the things you purchased or your money, and you will no longer hear from them.
- A few days later, your bank will tell you that the con-artist's check has bounced and take the money back. You are then left with the loss of the money that you wired out and no way to reach the con-artist.
If you have received one of these messages, do not purchase any items or wire any money to the con-artist. As soon as you ship the items or wire the money to the con-artist, your money is gone. Just stop responding to the con-artist.
If you are a victim and have sent money to the con-artists, please file a criminal complaint with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. They can be reached at the following web address: https://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx
Mark Cather / UMBC Chief Information Security Officer
