Spot job scams with these 3 tips

An email lands in your inbox offering you a part-time job with good pay. It seems too good to be true. Most likely, it is. 

Scammers often target cash-strapped students with fake job offers, like a recent one that advertised a job with UNICEF paying $600 a week for just a few hours of work. But rather than making a quick buck, you can end up losing money if you respond to one of these scams. 

Here are three ways you can spot and avoid job offer scams: 

  1. Be skeptical. Whenever you receive an unsolicited job offer, ask yourself some questions: Does this seem too good to be true? Am I being asked to reply outside of my official school email? 
  2. Research, and reach out. Look up the phone number for the organization claiming to offer the job and call them to confirm the position is real. If you can’t reach the organization directly, call us at 856-256-4400, and we will help you determine whether the offer is real or not. 
  3. Don’t accept jobs that ask you to deposit checks and send money elsewhere. These scams often ask you to deposit checks into your account and then purchase gift cards or wire money to other accounts. The checks are later found to be fraudulent, leaving you on the hook for paying back the amount of the counterfeit checks. 

Use our tips for spotting phishing scams​ and malicious websites to help protect yourself, take our quick security training that provides you with skills to spot various scams and always check our list of known scams​ if you receive an email you think is suspicious. 

We put security measures in place this week to prevent the UNICEF scam and others like it from reaching your inbox. If you were expecting a legitimate job offer but did not receive it, please contact us so we can investigate. 

If you have any other technical questions, please contact the Technology Support Center at 856-256-4400, or submit a ticket in the Rowan Support Portal. If you have any questions about job opportunities, please contact the Office of Career Advancement at careers@rowan.edu.