As many jobseekers are busy trying to find gainful employment, scam artist are also busy finding ways to rip applicants off.
The Better Business Bureau recently issued several scam alerts related to the employment sector, and some job seeking tips to help the public avoid con-artists.
A scam affecting thousands of potential employees is the background check scam. It is rarely advisable for an applicant to pay upfront fees or make a required purchase to get a job. Most recently, the BBB uncovered a scam where job hunters were told they had to pay $64.50 for a background check before they could be considered for a cleaning job. These fake employers are simply stealing your money.
Many phony jobs also require the prospective employee to cash a check sent by the company through the mail and then wire a portion of the money on to another entity. Reasons given for this requirement vary from scam to scam. Whatever the reason though, the check might clear the employee’s bank account but will eventually turn out to be a fake and the employee is out the money he or she wired back to the scammers.
A similar scam is when the company asks for your credit score and gives a link to click. Predictably, after paying for the background check or credit report, the job seekers never hear from the company again. The fake employer will then use your information to set up credit lines or bank accounts.
In another twist, there are also several companies online offering a “clean slate” service.
They claim they can remove negative online actions against a person. For example, say there is a link to your bachelor party, or you really weren’t thinking when you wrote that nasty blog about your former employer, the company claims to be able to remove it.
This is simply an attempt to take your money. Victims of this scam reported checking back after a few weeks of paying for the service only to find everything the same. The companies will claim they are extremely busy and need more time, but this is just a ploy. To actually have something removed from the web, experts advise contacting the webmaster of the hosting site.
A good way to spot employment scams is by knowing the red flags. Employer e-mails are rife with grammatical and spelling errors. Most online fraud is perpetrated by scammers located outside the U.S. Their first language usually isn’t English and this is often evident in their poor grasp of the language which can include poor grammar and the misspelling of common words.
E-mails purporting to be from job posting websites claiming there’s a problem with a job hunter’s account should also be scrutinized. After creating a user account on sites like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com or Craigslist.com, a job hunter might receive an e-mail saying there has been a problem with their account or they need to follow a hyperlink to install new software. Phishing e-mails like this are designed to convince readers to click a link within the message to fix the issue, but actually take them to a website that will install malware or viruses on their computer.
If an employer asks for extensive personal information such as Social Security or bank account numbers, this should throw up a red flag. Some job seekers have been surprised to learn they’ve gotten a job without having to do a single interview. However, when the employer then asked for personal information in order to fill out the necessary paperwork suspicions were raised – and rightly so. Regardless of the reason or excuse given by the employer, a job applicant should never give out his or her Social Security or bank account numbers over the phone or e-mail.
The Daily Journal has made a commitment to keep readers abreast of scams that hit our area. If someone tries to make you the victim of a scam, submit details at http://www.dailyjournalonline.com/connect (click on the Scam logo) or call us at 431-2010 and tell us what happened.
We will try to include your story in our scam alert series to prepare others who may find themselves in the same situation. The Daily Journal will run Scam Alert stories in the Weekend paper.