Scam alert: Research assistants for Padma Patil
The information security team has received numerous reports of a scam concerning student research assistants for Padma Patil, associate vice president of institutional research.
Scam alert: Research assistants for Padma Patil
The information security team has received numerous reports of a scam concerning student research assistants for Padma Patil, associate vice president of institutional research.
This email notes there is a pressing need for student research assistants at Miami, and may ask students to provide contact information. In several cases, the scammer has sent real, physical, fraudulent checks asking the student to purchase computer equipment. The scammers then suggest that the students need to ship the equipment back to them – at which point the checks will bounce, causing the students to lose their own money and the equipment.
If you receive an email about research assistantships, or personal checks from any administrator at the university, please do not respond, click on any links within, or cash any checks. If you receive a personal check you were not expecting (especially from an unexpected source), you can also call the issuing bank to verify if the check is legitimate.
This is not how Miami solicits information from students, or advertises for jobs. That is done through Miami’s employment portal (MiamiOH.edu/jobs).
If you receive a message that you suspect to be a phishing message, please forward it to InfoSec@MiamiOH.edu. This allows the information security team to block sites that may be associated with phishing attacks. If you ever feel you may have responded to a fraudulent message or clicked a link in one, please contact IT Help immediately at 513-529-7900.
For more tips about remaining secure online and at Miami, visit the Information Security Office website.
