Internet Crime Complaint Center (FBI)

13 January 2015

Alert Number

I-011315b-PSA

UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE PAYROLL SCAM

University employees are receiving fraudulent e-mails indicating a change in their human resource status. The e-mail contains a link directing the employee to login to their human resources website to identify this change. The website provided appears very similar to the legitimate site in an effort to steal the employee’s credentials. Once the employee enters his/her login information, the scammer takes that information and signs into the employee’s official human resources account to change the employee’s direct deposit information. This redirects the employee’s paycheck to the bank account of another individual involved in the scam.

Consequences of this Scam:

• The employee’s paycheck can be stolen.
• The money may not be returned in full to the employee.
• The scammers can take the employee’s log-in credentials and attempt to log into other accounts that belong to the employee.

Tips on how to Protect Yourself from this Scam:

• Look for poor use of the English language in e-mails such as incorrect grammar, capitalization, and tenses. Many of the scammers who send these messages are not native English speakers.
• Roll your cursor over the links received via e-mail and look for inconsistencies. If it is not the website the e-mail claims to be directing you to then the link is to a fraudulent site.
• Never provide credentials of any sort via e-mail. This includes after clicking on links sent via e-mail. Always go to an official website rather than from a link sent to you via e-mail.
• Contact your personnel department if you receive suspicious e-mail.

If you have been a victim of this scam, you may file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov. Please reference this PSA number in your complaint.

The IC3 produced a PSA in May 2014 titled “Cyber-related Scams Targeting Universities, Employees, and Students,” which mentioned this scam. The PSA can be viewed at http://www.ic3.gov/media/2014/140505.aspx.

13 January 2015

                                                            

Alert Number

I-011315a-PSA

FBI WARNS OF FICTITIOUS 'WORK-FROM-HOME' SCAM TARGETING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

College students across the United States have been targeted to participate in work-from-home scams. Students have been receiving e-mails to their school accounts recruiting them for payroll and/or human resource positions with fictitious companies. The “position” simply requires the student to provide his/her bank account number to receive a deposit and then transfer a portion of the funds to another bank account. Unbeknownst to the student, the other account is involved in the scam that the student has now helped perpetrate. The funds the student receives and is directed elsewhere have been stolen by cyber criminals. Participating in the scam is a crime and could lead to the student’s bank account being closed due to fraudulent activity or federal charges.

Here’s how the scam works:

• The student is asked to provide his/her bank account credentials under the guise of setting up direct deposit for his/her pay.
• The scammers will add the student’s bank account to a victim employee’s direct deposit information to redirect the victim’s payroll deposit to the student’s account.
• The student will receive the payroll deposit from the victim’s employer in the victim’s name.
• The student will be directed to withdraw funds from the account and send a portion of the deposit, via wire transfer, to other individuals involved in the scam.

Consequences of Participating in the Scam:

• The student’s bank account will be identified by law enforcement as being involved in the fraud.
• The victim employee has his/her pay stolen by the scammers utilizing the student’s bank account.
• Without the student’s participation, the scam could not be perpetrated, so he/she facilitated the theft of the paycheck.
• The student could be arrested and prosecuted in federal court. A criminal record will stay with the student for the rest of his/her life and will have to be divulged on future job applications, which could prevent the student from being hired.
• The student’s bank account may be closed due to fraudulent activity and a report could be filed by the bank.
• This could adversely affect the student’s credit record.

Tips on how to Protect Yourself from this Scam:

• If a job offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Never accept a job that requires the depositing of funds into your account and wiring them to different accounts.
• Look for poor use of the English language in e-mails such as incorrect grammar, capitalization, and tenses. Many of the scammers who send these messages are not native English speakers.
• Never provide credentials of any kind such as bank account information, login names, passwords, or any other identifying information in response to a recruitment e-mail.
• Forward these e-mails to the university’s IT personnel and tell your friends to be on the lookout for the scam.
• This could adversely affect the student’s credit record.

If you have been a victim of this scam, you may file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov. Please reference this PSA number in your complaint.

The IC3 produced a PSA in May 2014 titled “Cyber-related Scams Targeting Universities, Employees, and Students,” which mentioned this scam. The PSA can be viewed at http://www.ic3.gov/media/2014/140505.aspx.