Unemployment rates are at a record highs, leaving people more vulnerable to scams. Scammers use legitimate job sites and use names of legitimate companies in an attempt to fraud job seekers. Watch the above video and beware from scammers.
Sings the job might be a scam (any one of these should trigger you to research the position in depth):
- The job is a “work from home” type of jobs. Many times involves processing checks.
- The job requires you to pay an up front membership fee or any other fee. NEVER pay for a job or a lead to a job.
- Many times, the job description will have spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
- You never met the person who interviewed you.
- You are requested to send your resume with your social security number, mother’s maiden name, credit card number, bank account information, or date of birth before meeting with the employer.
- No company will ask you for your passwords
- You are requested to purchase equipment or send payment for equipment (e.g. computer, scanner, etc)
- Scammers create email accounts with free email providers such as Yahoo and Gmail. The email addresses might look legit but remember that most legit employers will use their company email accounts for hiring purposes.
- Beware of any job that sounds too good to be true.
How to avoid scams:
- If you’re not sure about the company/job in question – call directly to the company (not the number on the emails you receiving) and inquire if the job is real. Do some research to protect yourself before disclosing any personal information.
- If you’re not sure – better question the job BEFORE sending any information to the prospective employer
- If you are tech savvy and know how to get the IP addresses of the person who’s sending you emails (here’s how), you could use a website such as IP2Location to track where the email came from. If the company is based in the United States, usually there’s no reason why an email will be sent to you on their behalf from Nigeria.
- Use common sense.
