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Florida Attorney General Warns Against Scams Aimed At College Students

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody
Steve Cannon
/
Associated Press
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody

The coronavirus pandemic is resulting in some college students looking for jobs becoming the target of online scams.

State Attorney General Ashley Moody said fraudsters are trying to exploit the recent shift away from traditional workplaces.

“The scammers spoof university email addresses that end in .edu. They solicit students via email with the promise of remote work and collect loads of personal information.”

Related: Local, State, And National Coronavirus Coverage

Moody said students who are told they’ve got the job are then asked to cash a check and send the money to the scam artists.  But the check is a counterfeit, leaving the student on the hook to the bank. 

“If you receive an email job offer, research the company yourself. Check out the company’s website and utilize the contact information online. Review the message for typos and grammatical errors — frequent red flags that an email is fraudulent.”

Moody urges anyone who receives a fishy looking email to report it to her office at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM.

Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.

Cyd Hoskinson began working at WJCT on Valentine’s Day 2011.