conversation: User (FooFooDrinks4Days): "I received an email to my university email, which was automatically forwarded to my gmail account. It mentioned a part time job opportunity for students, and stated that it had received the emails from the university database. Red flags galore I know, but my university does tend to forward job opportunities to students so I overlooked those thinking of how much I need the extra money. Regardless, I'm just looking for information on the potential damage and what I should do now to best protect myself against that.\n\nA detailed rundown of the typical email chain can be found [here](https://it.brown.edu/alerts/read/corestaff-phishing-email-anatomy-scam).\n\nHere is what the initial email looked like, sent to my university email address:\n\n&gt;Dear Student,  \n&gt;  \n&gt;  We got your contact through your school database and I'm happy to inform you that our reputable company CORESTAFF SERVICES Inc®,is currently running a student empowerment programme. This programme is to help loyal and hardworking students like you secure a part time job which does not deter you from doing any other, you just need a few hours to do this weekly and with an attractive weekly salary.   \n&gt;  \n&gt;KINDLY EMAIL BACK WITH YOUR  PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS IF INTERESTED IN THIS JOB POSITION.  \n&gt;  \n&gt;Kind Regards,  \n&gt;  \n&gt;Mitchell Latiker,  \n&gt;  \n&gt;HR Manager/Consultant  \n&gt;  \n&gt;CORESTAFF SERVICES Inc® \n\nHere is the information I gave:\n\n&gt;Name, Physical Contact Address (Not PO Box), City, State, Zip Code, D.O.B., Gender, Mobile (Must be able to receive text), Personal Email, Current Job\n\nWithin an hour of responding to them, I had changed all the passwords I could think of with completely new passwords. Changed my university login password, gmail passwords, online banking password, even my reddit passwords as I was overdue for changing passwords anyway.\n\nSome notes on the information I gave.\n\n* Name: Gave full name\n* Address: Gave university living address, not my parent's address which is what is listed for bank account, SSN, etc.\n* Personal Email: Responded with my regular gmail, but I created a new gmail partway through to be more of a  professional-personal email and sent them that to use.\n* Current Job: I have changed jobs five times over the past four years in school, so the job and city I listed are not the same city that I live at or have listed before anywhere else.\n\nHas anyone heard of this scam/company before? How bad did I mess up? Have I done enough damage control? And what can I do from here?\n\nAt a minimum, I'm pretty embarrassed. Hopefully that is all it will be. Any advice or insight is appreciated.\n\nEdit: Final email from them did say that they would be sending me a check with my "first week's pay and necessary funds to complete first assignment". Definitely won't cash it, but should I do anything else?"
  Self: "So really all you gave them was your name and address? Anyone can find that on Google if they try hard enough. I wouldn't be too concerned, but in addition to checking your free annual credit report, you can set up account alerts for your bank(s) and credit card(s) and a service like Credit Karma that will give you credit alerts (you should be doing these things anyway though). If you're really paranoid you can freeze your credit with the three bureaus."
  User (FooFooDrinks4Days): "That's relieving to read. I'm not sure how far some basic information could get an identity thief, but I wanted to make sure. I had been using the same password on a lot of important sites so that was the first thing I changed."
  Self: "This was probably more likely an attempt to scam you by making you think you were getting a job, then you'd be sent a check that you'd be instructed to cash and "pay for supplies" or something like that, then after you did the check would bounce and you'd be out the money. Sounds less like an identity theft attempt.\n\nWithout your SSN they're not gonna be able to do much real damage. Protip: if anyone ever asks for your SSN via email, don't give it to them.\n\n&gt; I had been using the same password on a lot of important sites so that was the first thing I changed.\n\nI doubt this would have resulted in someone getting your password (unless it's easily derived from info you provided) but it's still a good practice to not reuse passwords so good thing that this at least got you to change them."
  User (FooFooDrinks4Days): "They did say they would send me a check for the "first assignment" in their last email. Should I just ignore the check and throw it away? \n\n\-edited my original post to add this info."
  Self: "Yes, this is a well known type of scam. The check will appear to clear your account, you'll think the money is there, you'll spend it how they tell you to (which inevitably ends up with the money going to them) and then the bank will realize the check is fraudulent and pull the money from your account. Best case, you're out however much money they had you spend, worst case, the bank pulling that money also causes you to overdraw your account and you now owe fees as well. \n\nBlock the person's emails and when you get the check, either rip it up and throw it away and be done with it, or you can take it and a printout of the emails to the police on the off chance they're actually able to do anything about it, but I wouldn't bet on it."
  