Job Opportunity Scams
Protect yourself from job opportunity scams with these helpful safety tips.
Beware of Scams
Recently El Camino College students have been the victims of online job opportunity scams.
The scammers make contact via email with a job offer. After accepting the offer, the victim is sent checks to deposit with instructions to return a portion of the money to the scammer using a money transfer app. Soon after, funds are stolen from the victim’s account by the scammer.
Safety Tips
- Be extremely cautious about interacting with someone you don’t know—especially online.
- Never provide access to sensitive personal information.
- If you’re contacted by someone with a suspicious job offer, please report to warriorjobs@elcamino.edu. This will allow the Career Education department to keep a record of fictitious employers.
For more tips on how to avoid scams like this, visit Federal Trade Commission's "How to Avoid a Scam."
Frequently Asked Questions
Common scams are sent via email and usually include a too-good-to-be-true offer and often request sensitive information such as your address, phone number, and sometimes even more sensitive information such as financial information or social security identification.
Most employers will never ask for this information over a normal email. An example of a scam could look something like this:
The best course of action after receiving an email like this is to not reply at all.
Some of them are phishing emails so simply clicking a link or replying could give the scammers information that you would rather they not have.
If you receive one of these emails, do not reply or click any links included in the email. Simply disregard the email and block the sender so that you don't get sent any more scam emails from them.
If you’re contacted by someone with a suspicious job offer, please report to spamalert@elcamino.edu This will allow the campus to keep a record of fictitious employers.