The Notre Dame Police Department (NDPD) warned community members of two separate scams in a Tuesday email. The first involves an email inviting the receiver to participate in either a “focus group” or a “Notre Dame focus group” and includes a promise of financial compensation.
“Once the participant provides some basic information, several other emails may be sent explaining procedures to follow including receiving a cashier’s check and depositing it,” the email said.
The second scam — several instances of which have been reported to the University’s Office of Information Technologies — involves a fictitious email that appears to come from Amazon and prompts the receiver “to enter personal information including their credit card information,” the email said.
NDPD encouraged the community to keep a careful eye out for fraud, especially around the holiday season.
“Scammers don’t take a break for the holidays, and in fact, some ramp up their activity,” the email said.
Scammers utilize strategies such as pretending to be a trusted individual or entity, demanding rapid payments in specific forms and threaten people with arrest or other repercussions from law enforcement, amongst other strategies, NDPD said in the email. Additionally, the best ways to prevent yourself from being a victim of fraud is to treat suspicious sounding offers or communications with skepticism, to never hand out personal information and to call NDPD with concerns.
NDPD can be contacted at 574-631-5555.
