Cybercriminals prey on educated, young people by posing as employers. They obtain mass bio-data/CVs of job seekers from job sites like naukari.com, shine.com, and others, and using the information in the CV—such as the phone number, email address, educational background, and previous employment—they create personalized fraud emails that promise openings in reputable companies.
The scammers use a call-center setup and either pretend to be a job advisory company or to be the prospective employer itself. They force the victim to speak with many HR professionals at different levels to create the impression that they are real people.
When a potential victim falls for their trap, they begin to demand money in the form of registration fees, document verification costs, interview scheduling fees, uniform advance fees, etc. After obtaining significant wealth, from the victim, they stop further communication.
Scammers post job listings online (in advertising, on job sites, and on social media), in newspapers, and even on TV and radio, just like real companies do. They make employment promises, but all they really want is your cash and private information. Here are some examples of employment fraud and some advice on how to avoid it.
Regular Job Scams
Scams involving jobs at home
Many people want to be able to work from home and make money. Scammers are aware of this, so they post advertising, frequently online, claiming to have employment opportunities where you can work from home and earn thousands of dollars each month with little time and effort.
The work could involve anything from product reshipping to selling to acquaintances. Scammers will occasionally promise you the chance to work for yourself, launch your own company, or set your own hours in an effort to pique your interest.
However, you end up spending your money on worthless beginning kits, “training,” or certifications rather than earning money. Additionally, you can discover that your credit card has been used without your consent or fall victim to a scam.
Examples of work-from-home job scams are provided below:
Fraudulent reshipping. If you’re looking for a job online, you can come across ads for virtual personal assistants or quality control managers that con artists have placed. The company claims that once you’re “hired,” your “task” is to receive parcels at your home, throw away the original packing and receipts, repackage the items, and then re-ship them to an address they provide. However, here is how you can know it’s a scam.
In some cases, the address is abroad. Frequently, expensive items like name-brand devices are purchased with stolen credit cards. Reshipping merchandise is never legitimate employment. That is merely participating in fraud. The first paycheck that the employer promises to send you after a month of jobs occasionally never materializes.
Additionally, the website and phone number for the business are no longer active when you try to contact them. If you provided your personal information thinking it was for payroll purposes, you may now be at risk of identity theft because this “job” is a hoax.
Fraudulent resale of goods. You can receive an unexpected call from a stranger offering you a job in this scam. Or perhaps you come on an advertisement in a newspaper or online. They claim that you can make money by purchasing name-brand luxury goods at less than retail pricing and then reselling those goods for a profit. However, when you pay for the goods, the shipment either never arrives or, if it does, is packed with useless items.
Job scams for nannies, caregivers, and virtual personal assistants
On job sites, con artists create phony job listings for babysitters, careers, and virtual assistants. They might also send emails that appear to be coming from a member of your neighborhood or a well-known institution like your college or university. The individual who hires you may send you a check if you apply.
They will advise you to keep a portion of the payment for your services and send the remainder to another person. That is fraud. No honest employer will ever demand that of you. The check is then discovered to be a phony. It may take a bank many weeks to figure this out, but once they do, they’ll demand their money back in full. Thus, if you get an offer that includes depositing a check and then using some of the money for any reason, that’s a scam. Walk away.
Rogue mystery shoppers
A dream job would be getting paid to shop, especially if you’re a full-time student or seeking a part-time position. Although some mystery shopping positions are legal, many of them are frauds. You won’t be asked to pay for credentials, job directories, or job assurances by reputable mystery shopping firms. Someone is scamming you if they demand payment in order to hire you. Additionally, stop if they want you to transfer money back and deposit a check. An indication of bogus check fraud is that. For additional information, read Mystery Shopper Scams.
Fraudulent job placement services
While many staffing firms, temporary agencies, headhunters, and other placement firms are reputable, there are some who make false claims about the services they will offer, promote bogus or outdated job advertisements, and charge for purportedly necessary services. The majority of legitimate placement agencies don’t charge a fee. Instead, the hiring company pays them a fee for helping them find qualified candidates. If a placement agency requests payment, stay away. Fraud can happen to you.
Postal and governmental employment fraud
Your answer is a job advertisement from the postal service or the federal government. However, you will need to pay a fee to secure the position or purchase study guides if you want to ace the postal exam. They are frauds. Everyone has free access to information on positions available with the federal government or the U.S. Postal Service. A federal or postal employment application is also free. Visit USAJobs.gov to search and apply for positions with the federal government, or go to usps.com/employment to see employment opportunities with the U.S. Postal Service.
How to Guard Against Fake Job Offers
You can never be fully safe from employment scams, however, how knowledgeable you are about the many types and the red signals they have. Even though con artists are always “inventing” new employment scams, if you are in desperate need of work, it is still feasible to fall for one.
As a result, if you encounter a listing that seems questionable, be sure to:
- Run a search on the internet.
Check out the results from a Google search for the organization, the employer, or the recruiter. Look up the person’s name online (or on LinkedIn), for instance, to see if their claim that they are a recruiter is true if you receive an email with a job offer from someone with an odd name who claims to be one.
- Speak to a reliable person.
Share a job offer with someone you know and trust if it seems too good to be true (for instance, if it pays well but requires little experience). They can provide you with a second opinion on whether or not the offer is a job scam.
- Never pay money to get a job guarantee.
You can be certain that work is a rip-off if you have to pay for it. Under normal circumstances, you can’t just accept a job; you have to work for it. Therefore, you can be certain that any offer you receive that specifies that you can only pay for a job is a hoax. Check out the website without a doubt.
- Never consent to any form of wire transfer.
Wire transfers are regularly used by scammers. They quickly transfer funds from one account to another, leaving little possibility for the money to be recovered. It’s a work scam if you receive an email purporting to be from a corporate executive and requesting that you send money since there is no other way to pay.
- Reject job offers that don’t demand any experience in advance.
Every professional who wants to make a good living must, as was previously stated, have a certain level of education or experience. Therefore, it’s generally a no-no if the job offer promises excellent money for an easy job.
- Never consent to share the details of your bank account with a prospective employer.
You will eventually have to provide your employer with sensitive information, such as the particulars of your bank account. However, before you begin working, no trustworthy employer would want details about your bank account.
- Avoid potential employers who demand that you act quickly.
A classic indication of an employment scam is when the con artist wants you to “seal the deal” by handing them your money or personal information. Depending on corporate policies, the average hiring procedure takes one to three weeks. As a result, any business that guarantees a quick hiring process is nearly always a scam. This is obviously a falsehood.
- You shouldn’t accept an offer if you didn’t apply.
You may occasionally encounter con artists who claim to have employed you for a position you did not apply for. This is obviously a scam.
- Conduct a search online.
Look up the name of the business or person you’re planning to work for together with the words “scam,” “review,” or “complaint.” You might find out that they have deceived other people.
- Speak to someone you can trust.
Tell them about the offer. How do they feel? Additionally, this gives you the critical time to consider the offer.
- Never pay to secure a job guarantee.
No legitimate employer, not even the government, will ever demand payment before hiring you. Anyone doing so is a con artist.
- Never put your faith in a “cleared” check.
No reputable prospective employer will ever offer you a check and instruct you to send a portion of it or use it to purchase gift cards. A bogus check fraud, that. When the check bounces, the bank will demand payment for the value of the counterfeit check.
Frequently Asked Questions
False job postings and fraudulent contacts posing as coming from organizations like Trafigura are on the rise. The goal is to trick candidates into parting with their money or personal information.
People are duped either by paying to establish a business that never materializes or by performing work for which they are not paid in the “work from home” (WFH) scam. Additionally, scammers have used phishing techniques to catch a lot of students, stay-at-home moms, and jobless people looking for part-time work.
During the interview process, no reputable recruiter or recruitment agency should ask for your driver’s license, your social security number, or a canceled check. Never divulge your complete social security number to a recruiter before a corporate interview.
In this kind of fraud, a person poses as a representative of a specific firm and offers a bogus job opportunity while actually working for that organization.
There is no doubt that online employment is real, but scammers are, too. I recently got the inspiration to write this post to help you find a reliable online job. Let’s learn to spot some obvious cues that con artists frequently leave for us.
