Security advisory
Scammers are targeting Solano Community College District students with fake job offers and fraudulent checks. The messages may impersonate a faculty member or other College employee and promise well-paid remote work with no interview or experience required.
Action required: Do not reply, deposit an emailed check, or send money. Report suspicious messages to helpdesk@solano.edu.
Advisory details
| Article type |
Security Advisory |
| Audience |
Students and employees |
| Severity |
High |
| Status |
Active |
| Last updated |
September 3, 2026 |
Summary
Scammers are sending unsolicited messages to student email accounts offering remote research assistant or part-time work. Students who respond may be asked for personal information, sent a counterfeit check, or instructed to return part of the supposed payment using a transfer service, gift card, or cryptocurrency.
The College first warned the campus community about this scam in a Canvas announcement on January 25, 2024. Similar activity has increased and is again affecting students.
Who is affected?
Students who receive unsolicited research assistant or similar job offers through their District or personal email accounts may be targeted. The scam may also target alumni or staff by claiming the opportunity is specifically for members of the District community. See screen shots below of what these messages typically look like.
If you have not received or responded to one of these messages, no action is required beyond remaining alert.
What you need to do
- Do not reply to the message or click its links.
- Do not print or deposit a check received by email unless you independently verify it with the organization that supposedly issued it.
- Do not send money for equipment, training, supplies, vendors, fees, or any other stated purpose.
- Report the message to helpdesk@solano.edu.
- Delete the message after reporting it.
What to watch for
Common warning signs include:
- An unsolicited remote research assistant, internship or part-time job offering.
- A sender using Gmail, Yahoo, or another personal account while claiming to represent a professor, department, employer, or the District.
- Instructions to respond by text message or personal email instead of an official College channel.
- Urgent language such as "limited spots," "first come, first served," or "respond today."
- A job offer with no interview that immediately requests your name, email address, telephone number, year of study, or other personal information.
- An emailed check with instructions to print it and use mobile deposit.
- A request to return an overpayment using Zelle, a wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or another payment method.
Do not assume a check is valid because deposited funds appear in your account. A bank may make funds available before determining that the check is fraudulent.
What Technology Services and Support is doing
Technology Services and Support is:
- Reviewing reported messages and identifying related scam activity.
- Monitoring for similar messages targeting College accounts.
- Applying available email-security protections when malicious senders or indicators are identified.
- Providing renewed guidance to students and the campus community.
- Sharing relevant information with local and federal law enforcement agencies investigating the reported fraud. This routine coordination supports the investigation and helps protect students from further financial harm.
To protect affected individuals and District systems, some investigative and technical details may not be publicly available.
Reporting concerns
If you receive or respond to one of these messages:
- Stop interacting with the sender.
- Do not deposit the check or send any money.
- Report the message to helpdesk@solano.edu.
- Include the sender address, subject, time received, and a screenshot or copy of the message.
- If you deposited a check or sent money, contact your bank immediately and tell Technology Services and Support what occurred.
Protect sensitive information: Do not include passwords, multifactor authentication (MFA) verification codes, recovery codes, banking credentials, or other secrets in your help desk tickets.
Figure 1: Screenshot of a fraudulent email targeting Solano Community College students and alumni.
A yellow banner at the top warns: “CAUTION: This message originated from outside of the Solano Community College organization. Do not click on any links or open any attachments unless you know and trust the sender.” The email begins “Dear Students and Alumni” and promotes a short-term, fully remote research internship for current Solano Community College students. It uses generic, overly formal language about academic excellence, experiential learning, student success, and university-level research. The purported faculty supervisor’s name is obscured. The message continues below the visible area of the screenshot.
Figure 2: Screenshot of a fraudulent email requesting sensitive personal and banking-related information.
A yellow banner at the top warns that the message originated outside the Solano Community College organization and advises recipients not to click links or open attachments unless they know and trust the sender. The email greets a recipient whose name is obscured, then asks them to reply with their financial institution name, account-holder name, phone number, school email address, optional alternative email address, and mailing address. The sender’s name is obscured.