Scammers try to trick students and employees into turning over personal information just as frequently during the summer months as they do during the academic year. That’s why it’s important to stay vigilant when you receive an unsolicited or suspicious message no matter the season.
Some common scams you should look out for this summer include:
- Extortion/Sextortion Scams: These scams claim the recipients’ accounts were hacked and they were secretly recorded while visiting adult websites. These scams generally demand payment in bitcoin to prevent compromising videos from being released, but now these scams are also threatening to infect the recipients’ family with COVID-19 if they don’t pay up. These “sextortion” scams often include passwords leaked in data breaches that the recipients previously used in order to make the threats appear legitimate. If you recognize the password and still use it, change it now.
- COVID-19 Stimulus/Fundraising/Health Care Scams: These scams are arriving in new forms every day but include fake fundraising pleas from the World Health Organization, bogus health care tips for fighting COVID-19, phony coronavirus tracking maps, stimulus funding scams and sham Zoom meeting invites. As always, avoid opening attachments or clicking on links on unsolicited or unexpected emails. Also, if an attachment you open asks you to [Enable content] when you open it, or make some other security downgrade, don’t do it – it’s a trick.
- Job/Retirement Benefit Scams: These scams, which are made to appear to come from an official government agency or a representative from your place of work, may ask you to verify personal or financial information to qualify for certain benefits. Be extra cautious to verify the sender of the email is legitimate. The best way to do this is to call the agency or representative you believe sent the email.
- Job Offer Scams: Job offer scams often promise good pay for part-time work, and with millions of people out of jobs due to COVID-19, this scam may be particularly enticing now. This type of scam often tells the recipients to deposit checks into their personal checking accounts and then withdraw the funds to purchase gift cards or wire money to other accounts. The checks are later found to be fraudulent, leaving the recipient on the hook for paying back the amount of the counterfeit checks. Never accept a job that requires depositing checks into your account and wiring portions to other individuals or accounts.
- Gift Card Scams: These scams often start with an email or text message that asks the recipient: “Are you available?” If the recipient responds, the scammer — posing as a person in a leadership position — claims they are caught in a meeting, requests the recipient purchase Amazon or iTunes gift cards on their behalf and promises to reimburse them later.
In addition to looking out for these common scams, we encourage you to take extra precaution when evaluating whether to click on a link or take another action in response to a message that has been marked as [EXTERNAL]. This label is applied to emails sent from non-Rowan University email addresses in order to flag potential phishing scams, most of which originate with external senders.
You can also use our tips for spotting phishing scams and malicious websites to help protect yourself, and always check our list of known scams if you receive an email you think is suspicious.
If you receive a suspicious email or text message, please contact the Technology Support Center at 856-256-4400 or forward the email to support@rowan.edu, and we’ll help you determine whether it’s legitimate or not.