Lets talk about job scams

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, so let’s talk about job scams. 

Did you know that scammers often advertise fake, but enticing jobs to students in order to phish for personal, banking and other types of sensitive information? These fraudulent job postings always seem too good to be true. They usually pay a lot of money for little work, allow staff to work from home with extremely flexible hours and/or require little to no prior work experience. They also have very tight application deadlines that are designed to pressure people into applying without taking the time to analyze the posting information. 

If you respond to one of these job postings, they will ask you to provide information that is not normally required by legitimate employers during the application stage, including but not limited to bank account information, a payment to cover equipment costs or personal information (full name, Social Insurance Number, birth date or address). For more information and examples, check out the Edmonton Police Service’s website on employment scams. 

If you come across a posting that features one or more of the elements from this Tip of the Week OR seems a bit odd, it is better to err on the side of caution. Contact your Work Experience Coordinator before applying so they can take a look and provide guidance and further information on next steps. You can also report suspected scam job postings to abuse@ualberta.ca with the subject “Suspected phishing email” so the Information Services & Technology team can investigate. We are all here to support you!