Garga Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 (edited) Didn’t a WTMer post a few days ago about receiving an email from someone working to get a doctorate (or some other degree), asking the WTMer for information about why they chose to homeschool? And the information would be shared with public schools so they could “respond accordingly”? I just got the below email from a complete stranger. They’re not asking for the same information that the WTMer was asked for, but there is enough similar about it that it’s setting off my spidey senses: 1. Stranger asking for the info (how did they get my info?) 2. Saying they’re doing it for a degree 3. Asking for information from me about homeschooling. Have you received something like this lately? What would the angle be if it’s some sort of scam? Is it just a coincidence? What do you think? DON’T CLICK ON ANY LINKS IN HERE, UNLESS YOU’RE SURE IT’S SAFE. I’m not even sure if the links are carrying over in my copy and paste from the email, but unless you are confident you can trust them, don’t click on them. Here’s the email. My name is Leslie Contos and I am a homeschooling parent and a doctoral student in counselor education at Governors State University. I kindly request your participation in a survey looking at the counseling preferences of homeschoolers. If you no longer currently homeschool, I would greatly appreciate your sharing this research request with others. You can participate in this online, anonymous survey through this link: Homeschool Survey of Counseling Activities. Thank-you. Your participation will support me in finishing my doctoral degree in counselor education; and will also help to inform counselors about the preferences of homeschooling families. I encourage you to share this link with other homeschoolers who might also be willing to participate. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Survey information and a consent checkbox will appear on the first screen, followed by demographic questions and finally a counseling scale. You may exit the survey at any time as participation is both anonymous and voluntary. If you have any questions you may contact me at LContos2@govst.edu or my dissertation chair at SPatrick@govst.edu . Edited March 10, 2019 by Garga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Not sure. Institution apparently exists. Email for advisor might be slightly off? How would this person get your contact info? And if a scam, what’s the angle? Shawn Patrick. Associate Professor. 708-534-4053 ext . 4053. spatrick3@govst.edu. Office Location: G303 Office Hours: College: COE Division of Psyc and ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share Posted March 10, 2019 3 minutes ago, Thatboyofmine said: Googling... This person seems to be real and has a LinkedIn, but I’m not sure I’d trust this survey. It just feels odd to me. If one was setting up a scam with a fake name, wouldn’t one maybe create a fake account somewhere? I don’t know. I have no idea what the purpose would be, but I’m not going to click on any links in the email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I haven’t received that, but did receive a strange to me thing in last few days from a stranger wanting support to study herbalism and write a book about it. As well as lots of strange phone calls to extent I stopped picking up unless I recognize caller ID. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share Posted March 10, 2019 4 minutes ago, Pen said: Not sure. Institution apparently exists. Email for advisor might be slightly off? How would this person get your contact info? And if a scam, what’s the angle? Shawn Patrick. Associate Professor. 708-534-4053 ext . 4053. spatrick3@govst.edu. Office Location: G303 Office Hours: College: COE Division of Psyc and ... Look at that! You’re right that the email address for S Patrick is slightly different. I’m wondering if the scam is in clicking on the links. If you click on a link maybe it gives you a virus or starts asking for personal information that you end up giving, thinking you’re helping someone. I’m pretty convinced it’s a scam now that you pointed out how the email address is different for S Patrick when you looked him up online vs in the email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share Posted March 10, 2019 3 minutes ago, Pen said: I haven’t received that, but did receive a strange to me thing in last few days from a stranger wanting support to study herbalism and write a book about it. As well as lots of strange phone calls to extent I stopped picking up unless I recognize caller ID. So weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 1 minute ago, Garga said: Look at that! You’re right that the email address for S Patrick is slightly different. I’m wondering if the scam is in clicking on the links. If you click on a link maybe it gives you a virus or starts asking for personal information that you end up giving, thinking you’re helping someone. I’m pretty convinced it’s a scam now that you pointed out how the email address is different for S Patrick when you looked him up online vs in the email. It would still have to be someone at the school, scam or not. You can't get a .edu email address unless you're affiliated with the institution in question. It isn't like gmail where anyone can make one. So the easiest thing to do would be to email their administrative offices and ask. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 One other thought- it could be that he uses the spatrick3 email address for research correspondence and the email address listed on the website for student correspondence. It isn't at all unusual to have multiple email addresses for different things. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 (edited) As for the researcher, she appears to be legit and apparently received a fellowship to study underrepresented homeschool families as well as homeschool families with special needs. My guess is that a curriculum supplier or a special needs group of some sort shared the emails of homeschool families with her en masse. Or sold them. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nbccf.org/assets/newsletters/LeslieContos.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjvnvyz1fbgAhWNHjQIHeJ2A4EQFjABegQIBxAB&usg=AOvVaw2ypA6KmcYxHaxstM9TQBJW&cshid=1552190432833 The link opens a pdf that's a press release for the fellowship announcement. Edited March 10, 2019 by Mergath 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Did anyone look at it? It's a very odd survey. It looks like it's a standard assessment for school counselors so like 90% of the categories don't even make sense in a homeschool context. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I saw it on a FB homeschool group page. I ignored it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 3 hours ago, Farrar said: Did anyone look at it? It's a very odd survey. It looks like it's a standard assessment for school counselors so like 90% of the categories don't even make sense in a homeschool context. Yup, just saw that. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 I didn't look at the survey, but the request doesn't really seem off to me. A son's MIL is a child psych professor and she sets up surveys like this all the time. It's surprisingly difficult to get enough people who are willing to participate in the research and who meet all the criteria needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 I’ve answered lots of Survey Monkey surveys for advanced degree students I know personally (or know their parents), so I don’t feel uncomfortable answering surveys through them. I think they’re a trustworthy company, in as much as any internet-based service is, and the student didn’t ask for any real identifying information. That said, I can’t imagine how that survey will provide her with anything useful. I did begin answering the questions from my position as Mom. Sure, I talk to my kids about those first few things. Then it got weird, because there were concepts I sometimes address/have addressed in my role at our large co-op, which a lot of families refer to as a school. Some of them were in the “student” context and some where in a “school” context. I could answer in one form, but not really the other, which wouldn’t make any sense at all. And then things like (paraphrasing) identifying special needs? Sure, I’ve chatted with parents about issues and mentioned resources to them, but not as the duty of a qualified psych professional, so is that a yes or a no? I don’t want to purport to be something I’m not, and there was no space to clarify my position. I didn’t submit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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