Location: New York
Over the past few weeks after graduating university, I’ve been working remotely as a research assistant for a professor. I’d never met this professor, but my university is small and the research aligns with my background, so the offer itself was fairly normal.
The first few weeks were completely standard research assistant work – emailing people, filling out excel sheets etc. However the past week has been incredibly strange. Over the past few days, my professor has sent me checks to send to a survey research company to help us get more data for our research. My job is to deposit the checks into my personal account, and then take the money out in the form of CVS barcode gift cards to send to the survey company. While this initially seemed alarming, when I raised the issue of the method of payment to my professor, I was told this was commonplace in the industry (pharmaceutical research) and that there was nothing to worry about.
After making the initial payment of around $1000, I was informed the next day that the survey size was too small and was sent another 2500$ over the next two days to send via the same method to the survey company. When I asked for potential alternative payment methods after my bank (naturally so) raised alarm bells, my professor assured me that what we were doing was legal. Likewise the liaison at the survey company’s only alternative proposal was walmart giftcards, or as a last resort, zelle. The entire process has raised alarm bells for me, (why couldn’t my professor send the money directly?) especially given my professors half answers and the survey company’s lack of willingness to explain why these were the only acceptable method of payments. The survey company itself is legit and is a fairly big company, but I still can’t help but feel something is off. I’ve kept all receipts and screenshotted all communication just in case, but am I overthinking this, or is there something legally dubious about this whole situation?
Comments
You are being scammed. There is no professor and these checks you deposited will bounce. Unfortunately the money you spent on the gift cards is gone. Don’t buy any more gift cards.
Not a Lawyer.
This is a fake check scam. See: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-and-report-fake-check-scams
The checks are bad, and will eventually bounce/be found fraudulent. That process can take over a month, and every cent will be clawed back. You will owe them the values of the checks.
I’ll add that you should immediately go to your bank with your suspicions, and as a backup open up an additional bank account at another bank. The last thing you want, on top of losing that money, is to be barred from having bank accounts for depositing fraudulent checks (or to be accused of being criminally involved).
You’ve been given good advice that this is a scam.
Since this alleged professor is purportedly a member of your university, I think you should also reach out to the dean or some other contact at the university. It’s possible other students and former students are being scammed as well and they will want to work to stop it.
Also, even if the survey company itself is legit, I guarantee that the contact you’re using for them is not. I’d also look into finding their official contact info and letting them know, as well.