URBANA – Following two reports of job scams within the past couple weeks, the Division of Public Safety is hoping to remind students and others to be judicious when looking for employment.

A U. of I. student reported on June 15 that she had been the victim of deceptive practices after applying on a U. of I. online job board for a job that does not exist. The student said she became suspicious the job was not legitimate and called police after being asked to wire $150 from her account to another.

In the second incident, a U. of I. student reported on June 26 that she had been the victim of deceptive practices after applying on a U. of I. online job board for an office position. The student said she became suspicious the job was not legitimate after being asked to send $250 from her account to someone in Nigeria.

Job-seekers should never accept any job from someone who wants to send or receive a check or cash before the applicant is hired or actually working. This goes for all cases, whether the job is listed on a public board or through a service offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Some other commonalities between recent reports of deceptive practices exist:

• Fraudulent employers have sought some sort of assistant.
• Applicants are asked to set up a Yahoo! Messenger account to communicate with the fraudulent employer.
• Applicants are asked to complete a series of menial tasks before asking the applicant to wire money to someone else’s account.
• Applicants may be asked to buy supplies with a promise of reimbursement.

The University’s Virtual Job Board is monitored for suspicious or fraudulent listings, but there may be some delay between the time the job is posted and the time it is vetted and deleted by University staff.

Anyone who believes they have been the victim of deceptive practices or fraud should contact the University of Illinois Police Department at 217-333-1216.

The FBI also fields claims of Internet crime at www.ic3.gov. This does not take the place of a police report – it is offered only as an additional resource to report and track Internet crime.

Technology Services also offers a phishing resource page.