Earthquakes in Turkey raise concern for SSU

OLIVIA KEELER STAFF WRITER

More than 23,000 are dead and tens of thousands are injured after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, Feb. 6. Could an earthquake of the same magnitude affect Sonoma State?

Rescue teams are still trying to recover survivors and bodies in the middle of destroyed cities. Videos are being spread around social media showing the reality of the rescue process.

Keegan Chipman, a third year business administration major, explained how she felt watching these videos,“The rescue team was screaming to see if anyone could hear them in the damage and the silence afterwards was so sad and scary,” said Chipman.

More than 380,000 people are homeless and see TURKEY EARTHQUAKE on pg. 4

SSU accounting major, Aaron Altona said, “It seems that scams like this are becoming increasingly common nowadays, and I think that for many of the people conducting these scams, they justify it in their own minds by thinking they’re taking from people who have more money than they need, or they are just so desperate or apathetic that they don’t think about the harm they’re causing. But in reality, these scams very often target people who are in financially vulnerable periods of their lives, such as retirees who no longer have a source of income, or in this case, college students who are often hard-pressed for money and are more likely to be lured in by the promise of payment. These scams are highly predatory, and it’s very sad to see this affecting my peers.”

Similar scams will contact students with job opportunities, posing as members of a school’s faculty. They offer easy jobs with flexible hours that sound appealing to college students. When someone applies for the job, they hire them without an interview and will send a check to deposit before the student has done any work. The scammer tells their victim to purchase gift cards or supplies for their new job to be sent to the scammer. However, the check they provide ends up being fraudulent, and any money spent and sent to the employer is lost forever.

Nadine Hisse, a psychology major at SSU, told us, “It’s really unfortunate that scammers are using the institution to manipulate students who are trying to get an education.“

In order to avoid being a victim of this, it is important to do research into potential employers. Make sure that their website is professional and their contact information is legitimate. It is also essential to check what other people have said online about their experiences with the company. Emails from scammers often include grammatical errors and typos, as well as promises of being hired without an interview or payment without working first. No reputable business will include these errors or promises in its hiring process.

If you are a victim or suspect a scammer is trying to defraud you with financial loss, you can file a report by calling the Sonoma State Police Department’s non-emergency line at (707) 6644444.