This job scam is similar to several previous UN-themed job scams from the past few weeks, but the latest batch is particularly concerning because the messages were sent from compromised UVic email addresses. Phishers and scammers love to send these sorts of emails from compromised accounts to make them look more legitimate, so if an email doesn’t look right, be wary even if it came from within UVic.
Signs that this email is a scam:
- The greeting is impersonal
- There are errors in capitalization and punctuation
- The email instructs you to contact a Yahoo email address; job offers that instruct you to contact an address from a free email provider such as Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail or Yahoo are very likely to be scams
- The email instructs you to use your personal email to reply–this is a ploy to evade any monitoring and defences on university email systems
- The signature is vague and generic
If you replied to the scammer, reach out to your department’s IT support staff or the Computer Help Desk for assistance, especially if you sent money or personally identifiable information.
For more information:
- CBC article on how to spot and avoid job scams
- Fraud alert from the UN and a scam warning on the real UN Careers page
