UW students are being targeted with an email scam disguised as info about an “under-cover shopper” job opening. Potential victims are sent a fraudulent check and sometimes asked to buy gift cards and take screenshots of the numbers to send to scammers.
The email, which encourages students to apply for the bogus job, is crafted to appear as if it is coming from an official UW office. An example is below. Other versions may exist.
Related scams
- See the phishing examples page for other job and gift-card related phishing scams.
https://ois.uw.edu/education/phishing-examples/ - See the scams page for more info about this and other attempts to trick and defraud members of the UW community.
Other resources
- Information Security for Students postcard
- “Are You Available?” gift card scams
- Gift Card Scam infographic
(See printing instructions to post in common areas.) - Info on Grant-Related Scams
https://www.grants.gov/learn-grants/grant-fraud/grant-related-scams.html - FBI Info on Scams and Safety
https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety