ASHE COUNTY, N.C. — Student email accounts have been suspended in Ashe County after a scam email was sent from a compromised email account Friday, according to a post on the district's Facebook page.
The school district says many students received the email just after 8 p.m. Friday, enticing students to apply for a part-time job.
The email read "All students in the ASHE COUNTY SCHOOLS who are interested are encouraged to be a part of this amazing offer. This is a part-time job that will not affect your present employment or academic program on campus and you will work remotely for this position. It's fun, rewarding, and flexible. 2-3 hours daily Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) per Week."
Ashe County Schools says this "job opportunity" is a "SCAM designed to gather personal information."
The district wants parents to remind children to never provide personal information of financial information without parental permission.
The Better Business Bureau told WCNC Charlotte this spring that Job scams are one of the most common scams. The BBB reports that an estimated 14 million people are exposed to employment scams every year. Those scams result in $2 billion in direct losses annually.
"We see them every year consistently in there and they are getting more complex," Julianna O’Rork with the Better Business Bureau said to WCNC Charlotte in March.
Ashe County Schools says they will update students when accounts are reactivated.