Phishing Alert: Job Offers Do NOT Involve Giftcard Purchases

Scammers are actively emailing students with fake job offers to swindle students out of money.

These scammers pose as professors or job recruiters and offer large sums of money. The “job” involves performing simple tasks, including purchasing gift cards, for offers of anywhere from $300 to $800 for a few hours of work per week.

When you do the math, you are being offered a job for which you didn’t apply that is paying upwards of $200/hour.

The goal of this scam is for students to purchase gift cards and provide the scammer with the card information.

Here are some quick indicators that a job opportunity may be a scam:

• Job opportunity email comes out of the blue
• The "professor/recruiter" seeks the student out for the job (instead of the student coming to them)
• Email comes from a personal account, such as Gail (always check the email from address)
• The recruiter moves communication channels to another personal email address or messaging/chat app such as text, WeChat, Skype, etc.
• They accept your resume without any interview
• They ask you to purchase items and gift cards with your own money (never purchase gift cards when asked to in an email/chat)

Students who are looking for jobs should use trusted resources, such as UArizona Student Engagement and Career Development Office’s Handshake.

If you receive this scam email, please report it by forwarding it to phish@arizona.edu(link sends e-mail).