{
  "id": "2025-06-23-florida-international-university-spoofed-faculty-job-scam",
  "slug": "florida-international-university-spoofed-faculty-job-scam-2025-06-23",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Florida International University",
    "shortName": "FIU",
    "state": "FL",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "FIU Alert",
    "enrollment": 56000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2025-06-23",
    "type": "scam",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "resolution": "unknown",
    "headline": "Spoofed faculty job-offer check scam",
    "headlinePublic": "Spoofed faculty job-offer check scam",
    "summary": "FIU Police [issued a timely warning after students were victimized by spoofed faculty job-offer emails](https://police.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/TIMELY-WARNING-June-23-25.pdf) that instructed recipients to deposit fraudulent checks and buy gift cards.",
    "outcome": "Warning instructs victims to contact FIUPD and their bank; no suspect identification in the product."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Timely Warning dated June 23, 2025",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "TIMELY WARNING - June 23, 2025\n\nThe Florida International University Police Department (FIUPD) and the FIU Division of Information\nTechnology (DoIT) have received several reports of students that have been victimized by responding to\nfraudulent and fictitious employment opportunities emailed to them from what appears to be an FIU\nfaculty email address.\n\nThe victims will respond to the offer, and indicate they are interested in the position. They will\nreceive an email response that appears to be from an FIU faculty member; however, the email\naddress is replicated to appear to come from FIU, through a process called SPOOFING. The email\nwill give the victim the job description, duration of the job and offers a convenient fully remote\nposition.\n\nThe victim will be instructed to perform the following actions:\n\n   •   The victim will receive an electronic check and be instructed to deposit the check into his\n       or her personal bank account. The funds are immediately deposited into the victim's\n       bank account for use. The victim is then instructed to purchase gift cards and provide\n       them with the secure digits on the card in order to extract the funds for their personal\n       use.\n   •   The victim will then be notified by their bank that the check(s) they deposited are\n       fraudulent. The victim’s attempts to contact the subject will be unsuccessful, and the\n       victim will lose the money they sent to the scammer.\n\nImportant information on how to Avoid Falling Victim:\n\n•     Be cautious if someone you don’t know asks you for personal information.\n•     Be cautious if someone you don’t know asks you to deposit a check.\n•     Never wire or send money to strangers based on a check you’ve received.\n•     Verify the legitimacy of any job offers. When verifying, do not reply to the email you\nreceived, start a new one.\n•     Remember that legitimate jobs don’t require upfront payments.\n•     Remember that if something looks too good to be true it probably isn’t.\n\nIf you think you are the victim of a fraud:\n\n•    Contact FIU PD immediately at 305-348-2626 or your local jurisdiction.\n•    Contact your bank immediately.\n\n       If you receive a suspicious text message, email, or notice any suspicious activity:\n               * Do NOT engage\n               * If you see a Phish Alert button you can click on that to notify DoIT\n               * Email abuse@fiu.edu\n\nIn compliance with federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and\nCampus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, we are issuing this “Timely Warning Notice” to\nreport an incident that may pose a serious or continuing threat to the campus\ncommunity.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "confidence": "high",
      "sourceUrl": "https://police.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/TIMELY-WARNING-June-23-25.pdf",
      "sourceDescription": "FIUPD Timely Warning PDF June 23, 2025",
      "annotations": [
        "Dual pdftotext-layout + pypdf wrap-normalized byte-agreement 2026-08-30. Stored layout-preserving body. Address/phone letterhead omitted. Official curly apostrophes and curly quotes preserved.",
        "Distinct incident from 2026-04-10-florida-international-university-whatsapp-bomb-threat: employment-scam timely warning, not the WhatsApp bomb-threat case."
      ],
      "characterCount": 2664
    }
  ],
  "context": "Official FIUPD timely-warning archive at [police.fiu.edu/crime-awareness-2/timely-warnings](https://police.fiu.edu/crime-awareness-2/timely-warnings/).",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Official Clery timely warning for a spoofed-faculty job-offer check scam."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "TIMELY WARNING - June 23, 2025",
      "url": "https://police.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/TIMELY-WARNING-June-23-25.pdf",
      "type": "official-archive",
      "accessDate": "2026-08-30"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "fiu",
    "scam",
    "2025"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-08-31",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-08-31",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}