Most Recently Reported Job Scams Targeting Students
A student reported a fraudulent contact: Kristan Cochran, who posted the following roles through hacking the Drury University Handshake account: Financial Analyst, Senior Accountant, Data Analyst, Sales Manager, Business Analyst, and Data Entry. Our team spoke with Drury University’s HR, and they confirmed that this incident has been reported to Handshake, and the contact has been removed and can no longer access the employer account to post. Upon receipt of the report, our employer engagement team immediately implemented our Fraudulent Activity Response protocol (FAR). The jobs are now declined in HireUTexas powered by Handshake and the contact has been removed and no longer has access. Although thousands of great opportunities are vetted and shared in the system, we regret that this happened and continually work to update and enhance our vetting processes and resources.
Additionally, this incident has been reported to UT IT Security and to their respective career services offices, and has been directly communicated to the students. Please review the tips below to share accordingly as we take our role seriously in keeping students informed and educated on ways to protect themselves and their information.
05-19-2021 Incident Report/Details:
- Reported Incident: A student reported a fraudulent contact: Kristan Cochran, who posted the following roles through hacking the Drury University Handshake account: Financial Analyst, Senior Accountant, Data Analyst, Sales Manager, Business Analyst, and Data Entry. Our team spoke with Drury University’s HR, and they confirmed that this incident has been reported to Handshake, and the contact has been removed and can no longer access the employer account to post.
- Job Titles: Financial Analyst, Senior Accountant, Data Analyst, Sales Manager, Business Analyst, and Data Entry
- All roles are now declined/removed from HireUTexas powered by Handshake
- User: Kristan Cochran; Email: kcochran006@drury.edu (also utilized a Gmail account)
- Company Name: Drury University
- Legitimate employer account that was hacked by the user; reported to Handshake via Drury University and the user has been removed
This is all the information we have at this time and will continue to keep you updated if we receive more details.
Tips from Information Security Office
- Enable two-factor authentication for UTmail account – this is really easy to do and adds a lot of security to the equation in a phishing scenario: https://www.google.com/landing/2step/
- Students can also review these resources: https://security.utexas.edu/Protect-Your-Privacy
Steps to Take if You Are a Victim of a Scam (per our Scam Job Posting Guide)
- Identify the situation. Did you give out any personal information? If so, target the areas that you think may be compromised and work with banks, your credit card company, or other entities to ensure best safety measures. This may include closing bank or email accounts that were jeopardized or ordering credit reports to scan for any unusual activity.
- Document everything! This will help the University or law enforcement better assist you and ensure that others may be warned in the future.
- Campus resources available to you:
- Texas Career Engagement: careerengagement@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-2425
- UT Police Department: 512-471-4441
- UT Legal Services for students: deanofstudents.utexas.edu/lss/
- Federal Trade Commission Complaint Assistant information: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
- Explore this articleabout how to stay safe on Handshake.
Disclaimer: Texas Career Engagement and The University of Texas at Austin’s college/school career service offices take measures to help protect students from fraudulent internship/job postings on campus job boards. While our moderators vet all positions and employers as best we can, we cannot take responsibility for each position. This information is to help educate students to further protect themselves when searching for employment.
Recent reports: