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Job Scam Emails

Have you received an email similar to the email below about a job opportunity? Unfortunately, it is not a legitimate job offer, but a scam that could cost you money.

From: [Redacted] <[redacted]@gmail.com>
Subject: JOB POSITION OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENT

Dear Student,

I'm very happy to inform you about the job opportunity in conjunction with your school (The University of Houston-Downtown) we got your mail from your school data base. Our reputable company ( CiscoSystems Company) is running a student empowerment program. This program is to help the hardworking student to secure a work at home job, this will not stop you from your daily works and your school activities. All you need is jst an hour or two to carry out the job weekly. Your wages will be $350 USD per week.

Kindly get back to us with your PHONE NUMBER AND PERSONAL EMAIL IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE JOB POSITION

PHONE NUMBER:
PERSONAL EMAIL:

Regards

[Redacted]
Recruiting Manager
CiscoSystems

Scammers are using UHD email addresses (which are publically available on the UHD directory web site) to send job scam emails designed to trick students into applying for a job that requires them to provide personal information and potentially engage in criminal activity. Please confirm all employers and representatives with the university career center before corresponding via email or phone.

There are many ways to identify a job scam email:

  • The email is from a Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook address. Legitimate companies should email from their corporate email account. UHD will not post jobs from employers that do not have corporate email accounts.
  • You are not the only recipient on the email. Legitimate companies will not send an email about a job offer to multiple people at once.
  • The email does not address you by name. The email may say your information was obtained from a job board, school database, or Career Services office. If so, they should address the email to you directly, rather than “Hello Student” or “Good Morning”.
  • The company name is a legitimate company. To make the scam more believable the email will use the name of a legitimate company. However, the person contacting you has no relationship with the company they are claiming to work for.
  • They ask to continue the conversation by text. This makes the scam harder to document. Conversations about legitimate offers should be conducted by email.
  • They ask for personal information in an email. Legitimate job opportunities require you to apply and provide your personal information in an official application, many times on the company website.
  • The email contains grammatical or spelling errors. A very common attribute of scam emails is that they do not bother to spell check or grammar check their outgoing emails.
  • There is no contact information for the sender. Any legitimate email from a company’s Human Resources or Recruiting department should have a signature line with the sender's name, title, and contact information.
  • The email asks you to visit a non-UHD website. UHD will only ask you to visit the website for an official career center on campus.

If you receive an email that contains this type of information, delete it. There is no need to respond. If you ever have questions about whether or not an email is legitimate, forward it to security@uhd.edu.

If you have responded to an email regarding a job opportunity and you now suspect it to be a scam, please do the following:

  1. Notify Information Security at security@uhd.edu or 713-221-8638. You will be asked to forward your PeopleSoft ID and any email or text message correspondence you have had with the scammer.
  2. To help secure your UHD information please set up your PeopleSoft password security questions and then reset your PeopleSoft and UHD account passwords.
  3. Report the scam to the UHD Police Department, One Main Street, Suite N118, TX 77002 or by phone at 713-221-8065. Inform them that Information Security asked you to make the report.