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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.

When looking for your next great job, unfortunately you need to be aware that there are people who are looking to take advantage of you. Although the story they tell will change, a scam falls into one of two basic categories: 1. An attempt to get you to pay money; 2. An attempt to steal your identity

How do they attempt to get you to pay money? Someone may pose as a recruiter stating he/she has a great employer with a high paying job, and all you need to do is pay a placement fee. Another variation of this tactic is to offer you “exclusive” job leads – leads that you can’t find elsewhere, and you can’t see until you pay a fee. Or there are “Work at Home” jobs where you are required to pay a fee for the initial packet of materials.

A good rule of thumb: NEVER pay for a job, or a lead to a job. Read the last sentence again, and let the word “never” sink into your head. No matter what the story is, or how convincing the person is, NEVER pay money. If you follow this rule of thumb, you will never get taken by this type of scam.

How do they attempt to steal your identity? You could receive a job offer, without ever meeting anyone face to face. Does this sound ridiculous? It should, but it won’t when they tell you their story – because they’ll make it sound real. The story changes every time, but usually is something like this: a major company outside of the US needs to transfer money into the US, or needs to deposit money from US sales, and will pay you a (a specified amount, or a percentage of the transaction) to put the money into your bank account. They will tell you this is a great job that pays great money, and you only have to work a few hours each week.

A good rule of thumb: NEVER give your credit card number(s), social security number, bank account number(s), or date of birth to any prospective employer without first meeting with the employer face to face. Resist the pressure to “act now” for a great opportunity that will have to go to someone else – let someone else get their identity stolen. If the employer does not have a local representative to meet with you in a face to face interview, you’ll only need to do a little research to find this great opportunity is nothing more than a scam.

Protect Yourself: When something sounds too good to be true you can research companies through the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), the Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm). You can find more detailed information on crimes committed via the internet and how to avoid them, from the US Government’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx).

Everyone at GadBall hopes that GadBall.com is a great professional resource for you, and that this information helps prevent you from falling victim to a scam.