The increasing sophistication of job scammers elevates the need to stay safe while job searching. Job seekers unfamiliar with fake listings often lose money to job scammers.
Knowing how to spot job scams and fake listings helps job seekers protect themselves. The following three examples can help.
1. Job Appears Too Good to Be True
Most job scams start with a scammer initiating contact through a job board or social media. The fake employer typically offers immediate employment or says a job seeker made the first cut and is included in the shortlist of candidates for interviews.
Unreasonably high pay
Fake listings usually offer significantly higher pay than is typical for the job. For instance, one online listing for a healthcare administrative assistant claimed it was a remote job working 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday for $45 per hour. The schedule was flexible and the employee had to be online at Yahoo Messenger during work hours.
Another fake listing was for an operations officer working 20 hours a week for $72,800 annually without an interview. The company’s address was in Spain and no job duties or responsibilities were given.
Vague job requirements
Scammers often include simple job requirements so most people qualify. For instance, “Must be a US citizen at least 18 years old and have internet access.” No mention of required education, skills, or experience suggests a job scam.
Immediate job offers
Some job scammers find candidate information on job boards, conduct a quick phone or online interview, and contact the individual with a job offer. Using job boards with privacy policies that let only verified employers view the listings helps you spot job scams and fake listings and stay safe while searching.
2. Emails Are Unprofessional
Job scammer emails often contain capitalization, spelling, grammatical, or punctuation mistakes. For instance, one scammer’s email read, “The Human resources have just reviewed your resume due to the one you posted on www.allstarjobs.com. You are now scheduled for an interview with the hiring manager of the company. Her name is Mrs. Ann Jernigan; you are required to set up a yahoo mail account(mail.yahoo.com) and a yahoo instant messenger.” The mistakes include:
- “The Human resources” should be “Human Resources”
- “The Human resources have reviewed” should be “Human Resources has reviewed”
- “yahoo” should be “Yahoo”
- Commas, periods, and parentheses should be followed by a space
Lack of contact information
An email without the company’s address and phone number likely is a job scam. Similarly, interviewers who claim they are using a personal email address because the company’s servers are down typically are job scammers.
3. Confidential Information Is Requested
Identity thieves often use fake listings to get bank account information, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other confidential information:
- Job scammers might request an individual’s bank account information to set up direct deposit or transfer money to an account.
- Scammers could ask individuals to open a bank account and provide the information.
- Job scammers might tell an individual to visit a website, fill out a credit report form, or provide confidential information to “put them on the company insurance.”
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