Baruch College and other CUNY institutions must do better at providing and advertising internship opportunities to students in all majors so that they don’t fall victim to scammers.
Students at Baruch and other CUNY colleges were contacted by scammers via email on multiple occasions. The impersonators claimed to work on behalf of CUNY, most commonly as a research assistant or part of the CUNY Financial Department and wanted students to disclose personal information regarding their banking, school accounts and other sensitive information.
The scam was brought to the attention of school officials, who then sent out a mass email to students warning them of the scam, and to contact the help desk if they had engaged with the scammer.
The incident, while addressed by school faculty, calls attention to a larger issue that many students face. In a world that relies heavily on technology for networking and communication, it is difficult for students to differentiate between what messages can be trusted, and which are false.
Students, many of whom are handling their finances and careers for the first time, are more vulnerable to scams, especially scams that claim to be working on behalf of their school, a supposedly trusted institution.
Students may not be aware of the possibility of scammers being able to contact them through their school email and it isn’t ideal for students to need to verify if an email claiming to be from their institution is authentic.
Considering how many CUNY email accounts have a two-step verification in place to negate scam emails, the presence of the recent scams raises many concerns for students. With no way to verify if an email sent to a school email account is valid outside of trusting the verification process already in place, students are subject to the possibility of being deceived without the resources needed to limit their exposure to phishing.
While the school’s acknowledgment of the recent scam is the first step in rectifying this rising issue, students need stronger technological protection and career opportunities. Being reminded not to trust unknown sources, especially as they continue to rely on email for communication with educational institutions, internships and prospective jobs, is not enough.
