Employment Scam Targeting Students

We have become aware of fraudulent emails targeting University students that are offering employment opportunities and, in some cases, asking students to purchase gift cards. BE AWARE: These messages are SCAMS. Examples of these messages appear below. Note that the sender and subject may change. The names and departments on the fraudulent messages do not exist at the University.

 

Subject: Your second task

 

Hello XXXXXXXXX, How are you doing today?

Our second task is necessitated as a result of the COVID-19
outbreak,the availability/rational use of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) outside our health care facilities  while we continue
to monitor the  situation in the United States and around the world.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used every day by healthcare
personnel (HCP) to protect themselves, patients, and others when
providing care has become an important and emotive subject during the
current corona-virus (COVID‐19) epidemic Personal protective equipment
is an important component, but only one part, of a system protecting
staff and other patients from COVID‐19 cross‐infection. PPE helps
protect HCP from many hazards encountered in healthcare facilities.
The greatly increased need for PPE caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has
resulted in PPE shortages, posing a tremendous challenge to the U.S.
healthcare system.

Healthcare facilities are having difficulty accessing the needed PPE
and are having to identify alternate ways to provide patient care.

Surge capacity refers to the ability to manage a sudden increase in
patient volume that would otherwise severely challenge or exceed the
present capacity of a facility. While there are no commonly accepted
measurements or triggers to distinguish surge capacity from daily
patient care capacity, surge capacity is a useful framework to
approach a decreased supply of PPE during the COVID-19 response.

To help healthcare facilities plan and optimize the use of PPE in
response to COVID-19, CDC has developed a Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE)_Burn Rate Calculator. Using the calculator can help
facilities make order projections for future needs and this will be
applied by our analyst with data collected from this  research.

CDC recommends following everyday preventive actions, such as washing
your hands,  face mask while in public to cover your cough, practicing
social distance.

Many of the PPE products are sold out but our Pharmaceutical Industry
Partners are working to fully restock based on the increased volume of
orders. Also challenges in meeting order demands for these Personal
Protective Equipment has led to a plan for surge manufacturing and
supply to optimize the Pharmacies, Medical Equipment Supply Stores and
Internet Medical Supply Retailers who sell PPE.

The availability or otherwise of these PPE through every available
outlet so it is easily accessible to everyone cannot be overemphasized
given the current trend. Given the demand for these products, the
prices at which they are sold when/where available is our focal point.

Pharmaceutical Industry partners “develop business continuity plans to
guide decision making in emergency situations such as this as we
collaborate with PPE experts and others on this research interest
having recognized the challenges, concerns, and frustration about the
shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).

This task will involve collecting data of PPE’s  supplies and options
available to help ensure effective resource management for PPE items,
make homes and facilities safe for everyone during the Covid-19
pandemic as you find them available  online.

1-Cleaning Supplies (Bathroom Cleaners, Detergent and Soap)

2- Hand Sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

3- Disinfecting Spray

4-Disinfecting Bleach

5.Disinfecting Wipes

6. All Purpose or Kitchen-Pro Antibacterial Cleaner

7.Respirators

8.Disposable Latex Gloves

9.Surgical/Medical masks

10.Goggles or disposable full-face shield

11. 2 X $500 OneVanilla  Prepaid Card (purchase TWO $500 OneVanilla
physical card)

The 11th items above will be utilized in our subsequent fee based
subscription online survey task and you should purchase the physical
cards from either Walmart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS or Dollar General
physical outlets near you today before end of day as we are well
behind schedule with our subsequent online survey task

You’ll be given detailed instruction on how to utilize them and
reimbursement for the two OneVanilla cards has been included in your
first week paycheck.

Behind every research article is the hard work, dedication,
commitment, and passion of every hands-on research team member who
participated in the research, each bringing their desire to broaden
their knowledge base to the project.

Follow the same methodology like you did with the first tasks .Search
3 to 4 retail outlets for each of the listed items and  send in your
report in the same format as well as write a brief summary that
presents your observations with regards to the availability and
pricing of these PPE.

Regards

<Official and Valid UR/URMC

Name and address>

What should you do?

** PLEASE NOTE: University officials will never ask you to purchase a quantity of gift cards.

 

Additional Resources

Learn more about protecting yourself from email and online scams at https://tech.rochester.edu/security/scams.

Get more information on Phishing Scams and learn how to identify and avoid malicious emails at https://tech.rochester.edu/security/phishing-education/.