By Tom Stillwagon |Staff Writer|
A fraudulent company has been attempting to scam CSU students through campus career centers across the state, according to the CSUSB Career Center.
Police reports were filed on campus this past week regarding the scam attempts.
Carol Dixon, interim director for the CSUSB Career Center, is aware of the situation and is taking measures to fix the problem.
According to Dixon, this is the only event of its kind that she has witnessed in her six years at the center.
“This is a situation that happened to all of the entire CSU so it is not isolated to our campus,” said Dixon. “Whoever they are, the FBI is aware of them. Our own campus police department is aware of them.”
The faux company posts fraudulent job opportunities on the boards of the campus centers. The most recent name used was ABCO ROOFING, INC.
“They’ve come in with at least six names that I know of,” said Dixon. “They create a bogus company and they provide a very realistic job description, which basically tells students that they will be handling accounts.”
After allegedly hiring students, the scam artists sends the student a check, and ask them to put the money in their bank account.
They are then asked to send the money to an address provided by the “company,” minus the ten percent the student is encouraged to keep as payment.
If the student goes through with this, the check will bounce in a few short days, and the student is scammed out of his or her money.
“It’s a really awful scam,” said Dixon, who mentioned that the CSUSB Career Center has been chasing the individual for at least a year.
She mentioned that they are constantly on the lookout for posts by the fraudulent employer, but just as one post is flagged and taken down, another one quickly pops up in its place.
Given that the scam artist uses a brand new company name every time he or she posts, trying to catch the person has been very difficult.
“It’s got to be a professional criminal because they are quick,” said Dixon, “quick and very slick.”
“But all of the CSU’s are aware of it,” said Dixon. “This is not just endemic to our campus.”
Should a student encounter one of these scams, Dixon encourages them to bring it to the career center and to notify the police.
“Call us immediately,” she said. “Let us know if you’re approached. Report it to the police and or to the career center so we can stop it as soon as we can.”
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