Workshop aims to help Ohio State students avoid being scammed

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Workshop aims to help Ohio State students avoid being scammed

Fisher and Glenn colleges partner on fraud prevention effort

To help students avoid becoming targets of financial scams, The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs recently presented a free workshop on how to avoid fraud.

Kate Hallihan, senior assistant dean of students at the Glenn College, and Ericka Wicks, a Fisher College alumna who is now a community manager at Chase Bank, conducted the workshop at Page Hall on the Columbus campus.

Students should beware of fake employment and internship postings that ask applicants to pay money or provide bank account information to secure a position, receive compensation, purchase supplies or other fraudulent claims, Hallihan said.

"It comes across as a legit job, and it's very exciting, and they try to move quickly, and then they ask you for money up front or a bank account up front in order to deposit your first paycheck or advance," she said. "If it sounds too good to be true and if they're asking for money up front, those are two big red flags."

Hallihan and Wicks discussed several other types of scams that target students, including fake scholarships seeking students' personal information, phony apartment rental offers that require nonrefundable deposits, debit and credit card fraud, investment and crypto schemes, and various types of identity theft.

Wicks also cautioned students to protect their identities on social media and to scrutinize or ignore messages from strangers. She cited a recent incident in which a stranger messaged her through a social media app. The unknown party claimed to be an Ohio State student asking to connect with Wicks to discuss her experience as an alum.

Wicks said she became suspicious when the unknown party suggested meeting over Zoom and invited a third party to join the meeting.

"That was a red flag. Why would a student want to invite … somebody else to the conversation? It wasn't making sense," Wicks said. "When I knew it was really a scam and they were trying to get me is when I said, 'Hey, when you come to campus next week, reach out.' I never heard from them."

Wicks also offered tips on avoiding phishing scams. These online scams target consumers by emailing them from what appears to be a well-known source such as a bank or property management company and asking them to provide personal information, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Telltale signs of phishing scams include emails with typos, misspellings or unusual spellings in the text or email address and invitations to click on a link to make a payment or to receive a free gift or refund, Wicks said.

"It just seems off in the formatting," Wicks said of phishing emails. "Delete it, block it, report it, so you don't accidentally click on any of these types of links."

Other tips provided at the workshop to avoid fraud include:

· Not sharing personal or financial information in response to unsolicited contact

· Resisting the urge to act immediately on a solicitation

· Using strong passwords on all accounts

· Not answering and blocking unwanted calls and texts

· Placing yourself on the National Do Not Call Registry by visiting Donotcall.gov

Kayah Israel, a business and finance major, and Samiyah Lewis, a business information systems major, said they plan to implement the advice they received at the workshop.

Israel said she learned how to safeguard her debit and credit cards when making purchases and to avoid racking up charges.

"I'm interested in learning more credit card information for young people," Israel said. "[Financial institutions] are trying to reel us in to get the credit card."

Lewis said she appreciated the information about how to avoid scholarship scams, such as not providing your Social Security number or bank account number if someone claiming to offer scholarships requests it.

"It definitely is information that you need to keep in mind," Lewis said. "We're young, so it's a part of learning. I feel like this workshop helped you realize some things while you're young."

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