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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission for Consumer Information is warning college and university students about a new twist on the fake check scam that defrauds its victims, on average, of about $2,000.
People in their 20s are more than twice as likely as people over age 30 to report losing money to fake check scams, the FTC said. About half of the forged check scams in the U.S. revolve around phony job offers. Common fake job offers include car wrapping, mystery shopper, and personal assistant.
“Never use money from a check to send gift cards, money orders, or wire money to someone,” the FTC advised. “And once you send money or put it on a gift card and give someone the gift card PIN, it’s like giving them cash. It’s almost impossible to get your money back.”
The ruse against students begins with the receipt of an email, supposedly from a professor at their school, with an offer for a small job - assistant, dog walking, part-time work, etc.
To make the trick more convincing, the sender uses an email address that appears to originate from the school’s domain - for example your.name@collegename.edu.
Once a victim agrees to the job, they are sent a check, which they are supposed to deposit into their own bank. From there the victim is supposed to send some of the money to someone else and keep the rest as payment for themselves.
The check is a fake and soon afterward, the bank discovers the error and takes the stolen money back from the victim. If the victim has already sent out funds to someone else, that money is gone.
The attached photo illustration was done by Geralt at Pixabay.com.
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