Safety in Your Search
Whether you are doing a job or internship search in Handshake or through other online job portals, it is important to protect yourself from fraudulent opportunities and scams. Scammers may directly contact you via email or phone, soliciting your services for an open job position. Some will say that they are faculty/staff at Northwestern, or represent another established well-known company. NCA recommends that job/internship seekers exercise caution and use good judgment when reviewing job postings and responding to employers either in Handshake or other sites. Below is a list of common warning signs as well as next steps if you think you have found a fraudulent posting/employer. Remember to trust your judgment; if something seems off about a posting, it might not be legitimate.
Warning Signs of a Fraudulent Employer or Job Opportunity
- The company or organization website used does not link to the correct organization.
- Email or otherwise contact you directly in a manner that you were not expecting.
- Represent a large employer (such as Northwestern) and are emailing from a “free” email service (such as Gmail or Hotmail).
- Fraudulent employers often create simple webpages and email addresses that look legitimate, but do not match the actual company domain. Try googling the URL or email address provided in the job posting to verify their legitimacy.
- The employer contact email address is not a primary domain or does not match the organization. Fraudulent employers intentionally create email addresses that look legitimate (e.g., name@nortwestern.com rather than name@northwestern.edu)
- Employer asks you to send them, over email or text communications, your bank/credit card account information to wire/transfer money into your account, or direct deposit.
- Employer asks you to send them equipment or purchase technology that will be reimbursed at a later date.
- By policy NCA does not approve employer accounts that use a non-company specific email address, with a very small number of exceptions.
- Use caution if the contact does not appear to have consistent instances that prove they represent that organization – LinkedIn profile, email address with the company domain name, etc.
- The employer requests personal information such as a photo, social security number, driver's license, or financial information.
- The employer offers you a job without meeting or interacting with you.
- Communications have frequent spelling errors or lack a professional tone.
What to do if you suspect a scam or have been scammed:
- Immediately suspend all communication with the employer.
- Report the fraudulent employer and/or posting to nca@northwestern.edu, and the Information Security Office (security@northwestern.edu).
- Call Northwestern Police (847-491-3456) or your local police department on their non-emergency number.
- Monitor your bank accounts if personal information was disclosed to the suspected fraudulent employer.
- If you have sent money to the employer, contact your bank or credit card company to close your account and dispute any charges.
- File a cybercrime incident report with the FTC if the exchange happened via email or over the Internet.
Additional Resources
- The Federal Trade Commission offers information on job scams.
- Glassdoor is an online career website where students can look up company reviews, salary information, job postings, and interview questions and questions.