Job Scam Impersonation Email “UMBC Student Job”

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 11:20:15 -0500
covid19, notice

The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has been notified that a scammer is sending out phishing emails claiming to offer a part-time job as an Administrative Assistant the UMBC’s Academic Success Center. The offer is a fake.

The Scam

Here is an example of the scam:

From: Dr Deborah <owens0101@gmail.com>

Date: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 at 11:15 AM

Subject: UMBC Student Job

To:

Due to the concerns surrounding COVID-19 , Also

affecting the university academic calendar ,we urgently

need the services of a competent student administrative

assistant to work Part-time and get paid $350 weekly.

Tasks will be carried out remotely. If interested, Do text

your name to (832) 975-0343 so as to proceed

Merry Christmas!

Best Regards,

Dr Deborah P. Webb

Assistant Director of Supplemental Instruction

Academic Success Center

Sherman Hall (Academic IV Bldg), Room 348

FK80139

(832) 975-0343

In the example above the email is sent from <owens0101@gmail.com> . This is not a UMBC address. UMBC addresses end in “@umbc.edu”. The phishing email itself is claiming to offer students a job as an administrative assistant. The scammer asks the victim to use text messaging which leaves no record of the communications in UMBC systems.
If you receive this email or anything similar, do not respond.

The Money

Scams like this operate by having the victim make purchases with their own funds while promising to reimburse them later. The reimbursement will generally be in the form of a check or a money order. When you attempt to deposit the check or money order into your bank account, your bank will notify you that it is not valid. It will bounce. You will have lost whatever money you have spent to that point. In many cases, this loss has exceeded $1000.00

The names and job titles appearing in this correspondence do belong to actual UMBC staff, but this information is readily available from the UMBC web site and can be used to make the scam seem more realistic.

Recently, a fake payment was made through an image of a check sent in email. The victim was instructed to print it, cut the image out in the shape of a check, sign it, and deposit it using a mobile banking app. (See below.)