Campus / Work-Study Fake-Check Job Scam

Scammers email students — frequently spoofing a professor or using compromised school accounts — offering an easy remote 'personal assistant,' 'research aide,' or pet-sitting job. They send a check to buy supplies or gift cards for a 'task,' ask you to keep a fee and send the rest onward, or 'accidentally' overpay and ask for the difference back. The check bounces days later and you owe the money you spent or forwarded. It's the fake-check/overpayment scam tailored to students' trust in campus communications.

• An easy campus/remote job email, sometimes 'from a professor.'
• A check sent to buy supplies or gift cards.
• Instructions to keep a fee and forward the rest.
• An overpayment with a 'send the difference back' request.

• Getting paid before doing work, via check.
• Buying gift cards or forwarding money for a 'job.'
• Job offers to your school email with off-campus payment steps.
• Overpayment plus refund requests.

These are illustrative examples written by ScamSplain, not real messages.

• You to spend/forward real money from a fake check.
• Gift-card codes.
• To exploit students' trust and need for income.

• Never accept a job that pays by check to then buy gift cards or forward money.
• Verify any 'professor' job offer in person or via official contacts.
• Use your school's official career office for legitimate jobs.
• Report suspicious emails to school IT.

• Fake Check Scams
• Overpayment 'Return the Difference' Scam
• Mystery / Secret Shopper Check Scam