Becoming Aware of Job Scams on Campus!
Recently, there has been an increase in email scams targeting Bridgewater State University students. These kinds of scams are related to jobs that make offers that are either too good to be true, or have a sense of urgency. Students sometimes fall for these scams because they need a job to pay off any debts they may collect during college, and as a result, scammers take advantage of them, which puts the victim in even more trouble and adds stress.
In response to these scams, the BSU Police Department and the IT Security Office are investigating several cases and sending out warnings to students about them. Steve Zuromiski, the vice president for information technology had this to say about it: “BSU isn’t unique, as many colleges experience this kind of issue around when they reopen for semesters; however, we do our best to prevent anyone from falling for them.”
They are working on an add-on service to Microsoft to catch these fishing scams. It’s still in testing now, but if proven successful, students will see fewer scams in their email accounts when school starts back up. Even so, should a student encounter one of these scams, the best option is to use the report message option on Microsoft Outlook and contact the campus police immediately, if they believe they have been scammed.
For more information about these kinds of scams, it is recommended to visit consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams. With October, National Security Awareness Month, coming up fast, it’s a good idea to let everyone know what kind of dangers these scams can bring and use jobs.bridgew.edu for official jobs on campus.
