A job scam, circulating via email, falsely offering a high-paying pet-sitting position to ISU faculty, staff, and students. The email, claiming to be from "Maria Marin Garcia," originates from an external email address and promises up to $800 per week for flexible work.  The email originates from a Spanish domain, which, while not inherently suspicious, raises questions about why someone with an international email address would be recruiting for a local job opportunity in Illinois. This mismatch adds to the email’s questionable legitimacy and warrants extra caution.

🔍 Red Flags in the Email:

• External Sender Warning – The email is not from an official ISU domain.
• Too-Good-To-Be-True Offer – Extremely high pay for minimal work is a classic scam tactic.
• Request for Personal Information – The sender asks recipients to email a personal Gmail account with their contact details, which could be used for fraud.
• Poor Formatting & Grammar – The email contains awkward phrasing and an unnecessary quotation mark in the closing ("Best Regards"").

🚫 What to Do:
✅ Do NOT respond or provide any personal information.
✅ Report the email as phishing by forwarding it to abuse@ilstu.edu or using the Report Message function in Outlook.
✅ Block the sender and remain cautious of similar scams.

If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is! Always verify job postings through official ISU channels before engaging. Stay safe online! 🔒