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You will not get paid if you fall for one of these scams, even if you do work for them for a period of time in what seems to be a job. And you may end up in big trouble.
Trust AFTER you verify!
Very unpleasant consequences, like the loss of your identity, loss of your money, a ruined credit rating, and worse may result if you fall for one of these scams.
If they get your unwitting cooperation in a crime (the reshipment and payment rep scams), participation in a felony could land you in jail. Not trivial!
Once they have private information from you, they have everything they need for their scam! They can drain your bank account, apply for (and receive) a tax refund in your name, and dozens of other things that make your life very difficult.
Be extremely wary when an employer approaches you to hire you for a job which pays extremely well but that anyone could do. Read 9 Characteristics of a Job Scam and Scam Jobs Sniff Test first.
5 Major Types of Job Search Scams and Job Frauds
The scammers are endlessly creative, so this is not everything, by any means.
But these are the major scams I have discovered.
1. E-mailed Job Offer Supposedly from an Employer, Recruiter, or Job Board
Maybe the email claims they found your resume on Monster or CareerBuilder or their company website, etc.
The message says they think you are the perfect candidate for this new opportunity.
You might not remember ever applying (and, if it’s a scam, you likely didn’t). You may not remember seeing the employer’s name before. Or, perhaps the employer name is a famous one you would love to work for.
And, they are very interested in hiring you — immediately!
All you need to do to is send them personal information for a pre-employment credit check, complete your application, or give them the information they need to complete the process so they can bring you on board as a new employee.
They want you to give them sensitive information like a copy of your driver’s license (which tells them your birthdate), your Social Security Number (to complete the paperwork to hire you), and/or your bank account number (for depositing those never-received paychecks).
Be very wary of an email from someone you don’t know, regardless of the logos and names visible in the email message.
Logos and names can be “borrowed” from websites. Check the email address. Since the From: email address may be “spoofed” with some email software, do not trust that the From: address is genuine. It may not be!
Using a fictional example of a recruiter named Mary Smith, who is a fictional employee of IBM (a real company, but any employer’s name could be used, large or small, well-known or not), you would contact her via an email address from the domain name for that employer.
So, if she existed, Mary’s real email address would be something like MarySmith@IBM.com. If Mary Smith is really a recruiter for IBM, she would NOT ask you to send your resume to MarySmith@yahoo.com, MarySmith@gmail.com, IBM-recruiting@gmail.com, MarySmithIBMrecruite[email protected], etc.
A real Mary Smith who was actually a recruiter from IBM would probably ask you to respond to her via her @IBM.com email address or to post your resume on the IBM.com website (more on that below).
More: How to Protect Your Privacy in Your Job Search
2. Fake Jobs on Social Media
This is the newest venue for job scams, and no social network is imune or perfectly safe. Be cautious of jobs and recruiters you find on social media.
Fake Facebook pages exist with many “opportunities” shared and promoted. Bogus jobs may also be posted on legitimate Facebook pages, too.
Fake LinkedIn Profiles are created, and they are used to post “opportunities” in LinkedIn Groups. Of course, sometimes real LinkedIn Profiles share fake jobs, too. LinkedIn does try to eliminate the fake Profiles, and limit access (or remove the accounts) when someone with a real Profile spreads junk inside of LinkedIn.
Scams can be sent out in Twitter where the link is a shortened URL (bit.ly or ow.ly) from real or fake accounts. Those shortened links could lead anywhere, so keep your shields up on Twitter, too.
Verify that the recruiter or employer social media account is genuine before you click and apply. Google the employer or recruiter name. If a Twitter account has fewer than 500 followers, be cautious, especially if the employer name claimed is well-known.
3. Fake Jobs Apparently from Legitimate Employers
The job posting or the website claim to be a real employer, perhaps from a well-known company like Google or Apple or often from less well-known names. But, although the employer name is legitimate, the jobs are NOT legitimate because they not actually from that employer.
In this scam, the real employer doesn’t have anything to do with the posting. The scammers abuse a legitimate employer’s identity.
I call this “corporate identity theft.” because the scammers have “stolen” a real company’s identity to use in this scam.
The scammers are advertising bogus jobs that are completely unrelated to the legitimate employer named in the posting or on the site.
More: Understanding Domain Names, URLs, and Web Addresses
4. Bogus Jobs on Legitimate Job Boards
The job board may be a well-known brand name like Indeed, Monster, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, Jobs2Careers, Snagajob, or your favorite professional association’s “career center.” But, while the job board is legitimate, the job may be a scam.
Frankly, I wouldn’t trust all of the jobs posted on any website completely, with the exception of FlexJobs.com (our sister site that has a team of researchers vetting all the jobs so you can find legitimate work at home jobs) and USAJOBS.gov (and then I’d double-check to be sure that I was truly viewing a page of USAJOBS.gov by checking the URL in my browser).
The fact that an employer, or a scammer, must first pay a job board in order to post jobs does NOT guarantee that the job is legitimate. The scammers may make enough money off their scam to cover the cost of the listing. Or they may be scamming the job board, too, by using a stolen credit card to pay for the posting.
These days, the people running websites which have job postings must work hard to make sure that they don’t allow fake jobs to be posted on their sites. Unfortunately, not all of the job boards do a great job of vetting employers and job postings, and sometimes they are fooled by the scammers, too.
[Read Choosing Good Job Boards for more information.]
5. Fake Job Boards, Fake Employer Websites, and Fake Recruiter Websites
These can be hard to spot. The website may look very professional, but their only goal is to collect as much personal information from you as possible. The websites looks great, but the employer or job board don’t really exist. Fake jobs are posted for job seekers to apply for.
Usually they require your personal information, particularly your Social Security Number for “pre-screening.” They usually also need your personal bank account number so they can begin depositing your paychecks (because they are ready to hire you immediately).
The fake job boards usually require you to “register” before you can see the job postings, but they may allow you to select the “job” you want first and then collect your information. There may — or may not — be any jobs (bogus or legitimate) posted on these sites.
I’ve seen a website that looks like it’s from Google (Google’s logo is on the site and the name Google is widely used on the site), but it definitely was not Google because, although Google’s name was in the URL, it was in the wrong place in the URL, and the site most definitely was not google.com.
And the “jobs” unfortunately weren’t with Google either. Just another scammer site.
[Read Understanding Domain Names, URLs, and Web Addresses for information on how to be sure what domain you’re viewing.]
Your Best Defense Against Job Scams and Job Fraud
Until you have verified that the employer and job are legitimate, do NOT respond to the job posting or email!
And, don’t provide the recruiter/employer or website with any information about you. Don’t register a resume or set up a profile, unless you know the opportunity is legitimate.
- Independently verify that the employer did post the job on the website in question by tracking down the employer’s phone number via Google, Superpages.com, or some other reputable web phone directory.
- Then, call the employer — using the number you have found in legitimate directory, NOT the number in the email or job posting — to verify that they really did send the message, IF the message looks real but is not from an email adddress associated with the employer’s domain name.
When you are in doubt about the authenticity of the employer, use your favorite search engine to find out what you can about the employer.
- If all you find are job postings, that’s a bad sign.Legitimate businesses do more that hire people. They also promote their products and/or services, so they can pay those employees. They usually post public contact information (address and phone numbers) so customers can find them.
- Look for the business website which explains what they do and where they do it.You need that information to prepare your response, anyway, in case the job is real, but the research will help you determine if the job is real or bogus.
Read the Scam Jobs Sniff Test for more information.
The Bottom Line on Job Search Scams
DO verify before you trust! Taking the time to run through the steps above will not only save you the time and energy it takes to apply for a job, which is time wasted in this case, but it can also save your bank account, identity, credit rating, and much more that you value highly. Yes, it’s a tough job market, and being unemployed is very unpleasant. But being scammed at the same time you are struggling with a job search is additional stress no one needs.
More About Avoiding Job Scams:
- 9 Characteristics of a Job Scam
- Scam Jobs Sniff Test
- The Reshipment and Ppayment Rep Scams
- Quiz: How Scam/Phish Proof Are You?
- Understanding Domain Names, URLs, and Web Addresses
About the author…
Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a recent Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Facebook, LinkedIn.
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