Job scams are relatively common in today’s market. What that means for you as a job seeker is that besides searching for vacancies that sound like a good fit for your skills and experience you need to be on the lookout for hoax job listings and know how to avoid getting scammed as a job seeker.
When you’re desperate for a job, you may ignore clear red flags that a job is not all that it’s said to be. Some of us fall for these scams more than others because we don’t know how to avoid getting scammed as a job seeker.
Scammers advertise jobs the same way legitimate employers do online (in ads, on job sites, and social media), in newspapers, and sometimes on TV and radio. They promise you a job, but what they want is your money and your personal information. Here are some examples of jobs scams and tips to help you avoid them.
A new well researched report by our I-Watch investigators found that job seekers under the age of 35 years are particularly susceptible to employment scam, as employers shift to all-digital application processes. In the I-Watch investigation report, said millennials make up the majority of its thousands scam reported cases.
Whether you’re a millennial or not, all of us could be better about protecting ourselves from job scams. If a job opportunity sounds too good to be true, interrogate these suspicions. A $20-per-hour job where no experience is necessary? A work-from-home job promising huge profits and little sales? Beware and learn how to avoid getting scammed as a job seeker..
Here are some tips on how to avoid being conned:
Being promised a high pay that seems too good to be true.
A legit company often gives reasonable salaries and signs deals that it can keep and honour. Scammers will try and give you figures that will try to whet your appetite.
Do your homework on the company.
I-Watch investigators recommend looking up the company online through a search browser. If you type the name of your prospective employer and the word “scam” or “fraud” and tons of results show up, it’s time to look elsewhere.
You can even look up the phone number being used to contact you through a search browser and see if it’s been linked to a scam. If you want to do a more official dive, contact the I-Watch at https://mkomah.com that keep track of complaints filed against companies.
Job scammers can use the identities of real companies to con you into giving up personal information. Are hiring managers using a personal email or a company one? Be skeptical of a social media recruiter contacting you from a personal Gmail account.
If a recruiter on social media who’s contacting you seems fishy, follow up on your initial hesitation. Search the company’s page on Internet and run it through a site like mkomah.com, which can tell you how old the domain is and who owns it. If the company’s domain is “private” or only a few months old, be wary, I-Watch recommends.
Calls and emails from an unsolicited job offer.
Unsolicited job offers might come through a phone call or through a job scam email. Scammers harvest people's details and use the information to scam their targets. Once you get such offers, it’s advisable not to engage the caller to avoid giving out more details of yourself.
Avoid jobs that ask for payment.
Remember: scammers want to separate you from your money.
I-Watch investigators report that, victim of cheque scams “tend to be small-business owners, or ‘direct sales representatives'” who are most likely to be taking in cheques from strangers.
To highlight this, the I-Watch investigators detailed a case where a woman received a suspiciously large first cheque from a new employer that turned out to be fraudulent The I-Watch investigators suggested that the scammers were trying to using a bad cheque so that the woman would send over money with a real cheque to make up the monetary difference.
Overpayment fraud was the most ranked reason for complaints filed with the Internet Crime Complaint Center in some years ago.
Being a smart job seeker means being suspicious of schemes promising you access for a fee, especially if it’s access to free information like a government job listing. You shouldn’t have to pay upfront for access to a guaranteed job or job training materials.
“Employers and employment firms shouldn’t ask you to pay for the promise of a job, I-Watch says and advices you learn how to avoid getting scammed as a job seeker.
Being offered the job without assessment.
For every job one applies, there is a team of administrators assigned to check your job experience and assess you. On the other hand, the scammer hurriedly gives you the job without the hiring process being followed. For instance, Immediately after the interview, you are told by the interviewer to report to work the following day or start working right away.
When the employer entices you for the job.
A company always has options and even better replacements for employees. The management cannot hesitate to give another candidate a chance instead of begging one to stay. That should be a red flag.
Don’t be in a hurry.
A con artist wants you to act quickly, not think things through. The FTC said that to avoid a scam, you should slow the process down. Hang up on the phone call demanding your credit card information or else. Be skeptical of verbal promises for jobs.
Legitimate employers will give you written contracts with an explicit start date and give you the necessary time to look it over. Talk to people in your network to ask whether they’ve ever heard of the company.
You are asked to pay for an internship, orientation or working gadgets.
Every company is equipped with working tools and gadgets to run its operation. If you are asked to pay to be taken on board, you should reconsider first if you are willing to join a team that's not supportive. This should ring your alarm and know it's a scam. There is no job waiting.
Unprofessional emails with typos.
Employers are usually keen on details. Such firms guard their reputation with any information that goes out to the public, hence chances of spelling and grammatical errors in emails are rare.
Legit companies take their time to go through your credentials. There is a high possibility that the individuals sending you an email without mentioning your name are scammers. An ambiguous “hello” could mean that they are randomly sending the same email to multiple people.
Weak social media presence.
Does the company have a social media presence? Website? What is their employee review like? Do they have a good number of followers? How many employees do they have? Does anyone you know about it? If you cannot answer most of these questions, that should be a red flag.
You should conduct your own research before applying for a job in any company. Also check whether the company is a start-up, who is just getting started on setting its social media presence. Do not shy away from applying to a legitimate start-up.
The Job post has been advertised for months.
Job openings can remain unfilled for some time. But with the spiked unemployment rate and limited opportunity, it will be rare for a post to remain that long unfilled. Such a job is either unfilled because of the rare specific skills required, or it's just a scam.
Conclusion on how to avoid getting scammed as a jobseeker.
If a job offer sounds too good to be true, chances are that it is a scam. But not always. Therefore, the above-mentioned red flags can help you weed out scam ads from legitimate listings.
If you do your own detective work and double check your instincts with facts, you can help protect yourself against wily scammers and avoid losing your money, pride and time.
While many staffing agencies, temporary agencies, headhunters, and other placement firms are legitimate, others lie about what they will do for you, promote outdated or fake job openings, and charge fees for so-called services. Legitimate placement firms do not typically charge a fee. Instead, the hiring company pays them a fee to find qualified candidates. If a placement firm asks you for a fee, walk away. You could be dealing with a scam.
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