Las Positas College is no stranger to giving students financial opportunities and experience when it comes to working on campus. With options such as federal work study, tutoring, job shadowing or paid internships, students have free reign to pick and choose what employment opportunities they want to do based on their schedule and availability.
On Nov. 15, 2023 at 11 a.m. an email about a remote intern position was sent about an “UNDERGRADUATE JOB INTERN POSITION” to Chabot-Las Positas Community College Zonemail accounts. This potential opportunity for students turned out to be a scam.
The email address of the scammer is 5955241@student.hcps.net. The Information Technology Cybersecurity Division at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) flagged that same email titled, “REMOTE RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITION” with the exact same format as the email that was sent to students at LPC.
This has not been the first time this happened though. One month prior, on October 16, another email was sent across Zonemail accounts titled, “REMOTE RESEARCH ASSISTANT” that claimed that the Department of Mathematics at LPC had a similar remote internship opportunity.
The sender of the October email used the name of an actual LPC Professor, Ashley McHale. In response to the email, McHale knew what the scammer had done.
“I don’t have evidence that my LPC email account was compromised. The phishing email was sent from a Gmail account and my name was used in the body of the email to make it seem legitimate. A retired professor’s name was also used in another email with similar internship information. The emails to reply back were not official @laspositascollege.edu emails, but (regular) Gmails,” she stated.
“Please encourage students to be vigilant about their identities and personal information, even when things may look or seem official.” The scammer used the email prof.ashleymh@gmail.com to scam students.
LPC Zonemail Gmail accounts have a feature where if the sender’s email address does not have zonemail.clpccd.edu attached to their name, the email is tagged as external, meaning that the email was sent from someone outside the school’s Zonemail organization.
The Chabot-Las Positas Community College District released a statement from the Information Technology Services Team about these fraudulent emails offering employment opportunities that students are receiving.
“These messages have not been sent by Chabot College or Las Positas College. The scammers in this case are offering students a check and then asking for information that can allow them access to your bank account,” the statement reads. “Do I have an account with the company/institution or know the person who contacted me? If the answer is ‘No,’ it could be a phishing scam. If you receive such an email, report the message and then delete it. If the answer is ‘Yes,’ contact the company/institution using a phone number or website you know is real — not the information in the email. Attachments and links might install harmful malware.”
If you think a scammer has your information, like your Social Security, credit card or bank account number, go to IdentityTheft.gov. On the website, you’ll see the specific steps to take based on the information that you lost.
If you received a phishing email or text message, report it. The information you give helps fight malicious emails. Contact helpzone@clpccd.org for help.
James Sevilla is a staff writer for The Express. Follow him @JamesTSevilla on X.
