The Subtle Art of Recognizing a Scam

The following was sent out to the all-faculty-and-staff email list at Evergreen State College today by the chief of campus police.  Some background: The Evergreen State College is abbreviated as TESC and is situated in Thurston County.

A faculty member reported that a person phoned her campus phone impersonating a Thurston County Sheriff.  The person advised them to take money out of their account and go to a local store and wire them the money, otherwise they would be arrested. 

THIS IS A SCAM.  Our TESC employee was lucky that the store employee advised them it was a scam.

 It’s unfair for scam artists to target gullible populations like college professors, don’t you think?

UPDATE: I've just learned that the email quoted above didn't really describe what happened, and I shouldn't have made so much light of the scam.  The scammer had lots of private information about the faculty member and used it to be extremely threatening.  It was a very creepy episode, and not one to get snarky about.  My apologies.