There has been a recent uptick of fake emails sent to students offering employment opportunities. These phishing messages appear to come from scammers posing as faculty members who request the “hired” individual provide their bank account information for direct deposit purposes. University IT are blocking the emails as they are reported. 

What should you do?

If you get a suspicious email, please report them to abuse@urmc.rochester.edu. If you have communicated with the person, stop responding. If you have given the person money, please contact the Department of Public Safety at (585) 275-3333, file a police report and suspend the impacted accounts immediately.

Tips to identify potential scams:

• Take a close look at the sender’s email address.
• Be cautious when responding to offers via email
• Watch out for urgency. If there’s a lot of pressure to do it quickly, be wary.
• Be cautious anytime you are dealing with someone you don’t know and they are asking for personal information (bank account, social security #, etc.), or requests to purchase gift cards (legitimate business transactions don’t normally require you to buy a gift card, send photos of a gift card, or share gift card codes.
• If the person wants you to switch to a personal email or texting. Criminals do this to get you off our email system so we can’t block them.
• Trust your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right, ask a lot of questions and be ready to walk away.
• Contact the person or company through a known legitimate email, phone number, or website to confirm the offer.