During the
time when I was looking for internships, I received an email that quickly
became a learning lesson. I knew that my internship professor was always
sending out internship options so I figured this was a company that had reached
out to her, looking for interns. The subject line was “ASU PART TIME JOB OFFER”
and the email explained that they received my contact through the school’s
database and they were looking to hire a hardworking student like myself for
just a few hours a week with an attractive weekly salary. Although the bottom
of the email was in bold, “KINDLY EMAIL BACK WITH YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL
ADDRESS IF INTERESTED IN THIS JOB POSITION”, I still responded that I was
interested and wanted more information. After giving him my personal email, he
still continued to email me on my ASU email. He outlined the position and said
the salary would be $400 a week to work strictly online to supply agents with
stationary items. I was taken back by the amount they were offering me and
didn’t even notice the numerous spelling and grammar errors. The email asked
for my personal information (name, address, D.O.B., gender, phone number, email
and current job). I was hesitant to respond with my information but I
remembered that all this information could easily be found on my Facebook or
Google so I didn’t see too much harm in it. A day later, he emailed me that my
application had been approved and they’d start to mail me my weekly salary
soon. I finally brought up the situation to my parents when the bottom of this
email ended with “NOTE: YOUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE TO THIS EMAIL IS EXPECTED”.
After my
dad’s research we sat down and he showed me all the red flags I should have
caught. First, his name was “Willian Jeff”, a last name then a first name.
Next, the name of the company was CISCO, which I thought was the reputable food
service distribution company (which is actually spelled Sysco). CISCO is a
multinational technology company but Willian Jeff was nowhere to be found on
their employees page. His email was also not associated with the company, it
was sent from a gmail account. The job description did appear to be detailed,
which is why I thought it was real, but it seemed too easy for the amount I’d
be getting paid. Willian Jeff also reached out to me offering me a job I didn’t
apply for, without asking for a resume or even a phone call interview. Lastly,
there was no contact information in his email signature, not a phone number,
company address etc. After all of this, I emailed my internship professor to see
if she knew anything about it or if this same thing has happened to other
students. My dad also made me block his email.
Looking
back, I can’t believe how gullible I was and I thought I struck gold with the
amount I was going to get paid. I wish I had viewed the “Common Red Flags When
Searching For a Job/Internship” PDF prior. Although, I truly feel I needed that
experience to understand that scammers are real and how cautious I need to be.
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