Don’t fall for the trap of giving away personal information to scam emails that may seem legitimate.
Spam emails and phishing happen more frequently than we would like to think and we see these occur almost every semester. We wanted to share some information for how to react when you notice a weird email in your inbox and how you should handle this situation:
DON’T
The first advice that we can share with you is that you always need to be skeptical of emails that you receive that are offering you a position you didn’t apply for. Many of these emails often target incoming college students with what appear to be quick money making opportunities. One of the tactics that scammers often use is to say that it they received your information from UAH. We at Career Services will never give out the information of our students to non-legitimate employers. Unfortunately, scammers can obtain your information through public directories. Legitimate emails from recruiters/employers will also come from email addresses associated with the company, and not personal accounts (such as Gmail). Most scam emails will be from a Gmail account and not a corporate one. A lot of these emails will also have spelling and grammatical errors so be on the lookout for those as well. If you ever have doubts, it is better to err on the side of caution and investigate further before responding to an email.
Most of these emails ask for money or personal information. You should never give out either of these via email to an employer that you may feel skeptical of. It also should be common sense too that employers will never ask you to send them a check before you have even started the job. You may even receive a check from one of these fake employers, sent to your home or your residence hall - do not cash it in. They may be able to use that to gain information about your bank accounts too. The best option is to never respond to these types of emails and report them as spam.
DO
If you receive a scam email from a company, one of the first things you can do is reach out to that company and see if they have an employee by the name of the person. Companies are always quick to be helpful and aid you in the process of identifying scammers. It is also important that you reach out to Career Services as well so that we can assist you and warn other students of this possible pitfall. Continue to keep us updated as you work through that process as well.
The most important thing to remember is to always double check with the employer and Career Services before responding to an email that may seem a little worrisome or too good to be true. We want to keep your identity protected. Be sure to keep your information safe and always have a critical eye towards emails that seem a little off or too good to be true.
