WARNING! Job Scams Targeting Regent University Students

 

There has been an uptick in targeted scam emails aimed at students regarding a Research Position. These emails are being sent from free email accounts (primarily Gmail), impersonating various well-known Regent faculty.

Other Universities are encountering the same sort of scams:

These scams involve email messages that appear to come from a University’s Office of Career Services, Student Services, or a faculty member, but ultimately results in financial fraud. Please be on guard and do not respond to these scams. For more information, visit https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/20710-scam-alert-employment-scams-target-college-students

Please note: It is vital that Regent University Faculty and Staff do NOT send University-related messages to students using a personal or non-Regent email account.

The only emails that we can ensure are not spoofed or impersonating a member of Regent Staff or Faculty are ones using our domains: @regent.edu and @mail.regent.edu .

If students begin to expect official emails from personal or non-Regent email addresses it can make impersonation attacks extremely easy to carry out.


The most recent successful scam had the following characteristics:

Please make sure to advise students of the following:

  • Regent University job offers will not be circulated via email
  • Regent Faculty or Staff will only use official Regent (@regent.edu or @mail.regent.edu) for University business
  • If ANYTHING looks suspicious about an email (undue urgency, sender name and signature don’t match, suspicious grammar, etc.), do your diligence:
    1. Check the full sender address (See above, click the down arrow next to “to me”)
    2. Verify with peers or faculty that the email is legitimate
    3. Use another form of contact to verify – a trusted phone number (not one given in the email thread), other information to verify the sender or content.
    4. When in doubt, contact the IT Helpdesk: 757-352-4076