Sacramento State students warned of scam offering job after coronavirus order lifts
Sacramento State University students on Thursday were warned about a scam distributed in emails offering relatively high wages for easy work, such as dog-sitting, once the coronavirus stay-at-home orders are lifted.
Officials said these emails have been sent to many students, faculty and staff members, the Sacramento State Police Department announced on Facebook. They said these phony job offers are simply an attempt to scam people out of money or access personal information.
Police shared an example of one of the emails circulating throughout the campus community.
The email starts off like a job advertisement seeking someone for part-time work as a dog-sitter. The scammer identifies himself as a university graduate who has an aunt moving to a home near the campus once the order to keep people during the COVID-19 pandemic has been lifted.
The scammer is offering $400 a week to bathe and walk the aunt’s two dogs, before asking for a student or staff member to respond with an reply email.
Police said solicitations such as this one are “common fraud schemes intended to persuade you to transfer money to repay a wage over-payment.” But they said victims discover later that the original deposited check is fraudulent.
The other intent for these scammers is to gain access to email accounts to phish for personal data, including bank information.
“Please be aware of this so that you do not become a victim,” police officials warned students.
