It’s a scam! Uni careers site advertises money laundering scheme

A Manchester student has fallen foul of a money laundering scheme after she applied for an ‘office job’ advertised on the university careers site.

Laura received a whopping £1550 before she’d even worked for the sham company

A site under the guise of ‘Costa Copy’ has been scouting out Manchester students to take part in their money laundering scam – and they’ve been targeting us through Manchester CareersLink.

So if you apply for a job on the CareersLink, you could be cooking the books without even knowing it.

Aiding and abetting: Manchester careers site

Manchester CareersLink is a site for students looking for part-time and graduate employment – and as it turns out, scams.

They’re supposed to be a trusty resource for Manchester students – but now Manchester CareersLink have been caught red handed after posting a phony job on the site.

One student, Laura, applied for a ‘part-time office job’ advertised on the site with a company called ‘Costa Copy’.

But the opportunity wasn’t all it seemed – she was sent a hefty cheque in the post for £1550 before she’d even started working.

She told The Tab:

“Within a few days of my application I received a cheque for £1550 and was told that it was my wages in advance. At this time I hadn’t even met my employer, let alone done any work.”

“The cheque came with instructions to deposit the money into another bank account.”

Suspicious, Laura emailed the university for further information.

The ad has since been removed

And now, the uni careers service have spoken out about the scandal.

Laura received this response after raising the alarm:

“Dear student,

IMPORTANT: Please read if you recently applied to a job with Costa Copy I am writing to inform you from the Careers Service as you recently viewed a job from the above company in CareersLink. It has been brought to my attention that a part-time vacancy advertised by Costa Company is actually a scam and is not a genuine job from this company. If you have applied to this job it is important that you follow the advice below.

If you have applied, have agreed to work for them or have received  a cheque from the organisation

1. Do NOT pay this cheque into your account under any circumstances

2. Ring Action Fraud advice line on 0300 123 20 40

3. Do not return any contact with the scammers and mark email as spam

We would be grateful if you could share this advice with fellow students to help make everyone aware of the potential scams they should be alert to when job hunting.

Many thanks

Scott Foley”

All I see is $ign$

But you can’t blame cash-strapped students for being tempted to pocket the easy money.

Laura told The Tab: “I’ve kept the cheque and I’m tempted the cash it when I leave university and change my address. After all, its not everyday you get a cheque in the post for £1500.”