Job Scams

Job Scams & Fraudulent Job Opportunities

Unfortunately, as the majority of job recruiting services and employment opportunities are hosted online, fake job postings are on the rise via unsolicited emails sent to your Valpo account and on online job-listing sites.

To protect yourself and your identity from fraud, please look out for the following warning signs that a job or internship may be fraudulent.

Potential Signs:

  1. Communication comes from an email address that doesn’t match the company name (especially gmail/yahoo accounts).
  2. Asks you to download an app (e.g. Google Hangouts) and/or primarily communicates with you through online messages.
  3. Asks you to pay up front for any training, software, or materials.
  4. Offers to send you a check before you do any work or to purchase software/training materials.
  5. Offers to send payment in advance and asks for a portion of it back.
  6. Offers you a job without interviewing you or interacting with you for any length of time.
  7. Asks you to provide any personal information, such as social security number or financial information.
  8. Asks you to pay an application fee or to transfer money from one account to another.
  9. Asks you to receive and send packages.

Fraudulent jobs and internships often use the names of legitimate employers.

Always run a web search on the website URL and email address of any employer that looks suspicious. If it looks too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true!

For more information please see the resources below.

Have questions or need help?

If you have been contacted by or are working with an employer with any of the aforementioned signs, please immediately contact Tom Cath at the Career Center at 219.464.5005.

Legal Disclaimer

Students and alumni are solely responsible for taking all necessary precautions when interviewing or accepting internships or employment positions as well as checking the credentials and integrity of an employer or organization. The presence of job announcements on any website maintained by Valparaiso University or the Career Center does not indicate an endorsement or recommendation by Valparaiso University or the Career Center. For more info, click here.