Students are easy targets for scams: BBB

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It might only be August but thoughts are already turning to back to school and fraudsters are also looking forward to students heading back to class.

The Better Business Bureau says university students can make easy targets since they are desperate to earn some money.

Evan Kelly with the BBB warns fake jobs that turn out to be cheque cashing scams are being advertised on campus. “There is a lot of different versions of this employment scam and what they do is they basically send you a cheque, get you to deposit it, withdraw money, send some on to a new employee or to buy office supplies or other things. Basically what happens is the cheque bounces and you are out of the money.”

Kelly warns of another where a scammer poses as a fake roommate and sends a bogus money order before asking for part of it back. “So anybody who is requesting money out of the country and can’t meet you in person [is a] big red flag. If you are renting a space out to help make your ends meet, make sure you are meeting this person. Connect with them maybe on social media to see and make sure that they are legit.”

To avoid becoming a victim, he says to remember that if it’s too good to be true – it probably is.

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