Top 10 Job Scam Warning Signs

Top 10 Job Scam Warning SignsTop 10 Job Scam Warning SignsHave you ever wondered if a job is real or a scam? Sometimes, it can be hard to tell the difference.Here are some tip-offs to help you identify fake job offers and avoid job scams. Internet fraud is rampant, and scammers prey on job seekers. Your best defense is to do your research and report internet job scams. Review these tips, so you can identify and avoid a variety of different types of scams designed to get your personal infassonation and your money. Top 10 Internet Job Scam Warning Signs Too Good to be True Good jobs are hard to find. Like your mom always said, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Here are some tip-offs that the job is fake. You didnt contact them they contacted you They say that they found your resume online. They either offer you a job right away or say they want to bewerbungsbewerbungsgesprch you. Sometimes the scammers will try to entice you by saying that you made the cu t and they are interviewing the finalists for the job.The pay is great Here are two examples Healthcare Admin Assistant This is a work from home job. Work hours is from 9am-4pm Monday-Friday You will earn $45 per hour for this position, you are also expected online at Yahoo Messenger during working hours. We also offer flexible hours.... Heres a elende from a reader about anOperations Officer scam I have never had anyone offer me a job working 20 hours a week, for $72,800 annually, without an interview or two or three. They dont really say what you will be doing or where...The company address is in Spain. You get the job right away. After a quick phone or Instant Message interview, the interviewer immediately contacts you to offer you the job.Tip Scammers troll job boards looking for victims. To reduce the chance, youll get scammed, use job sites that have privacy policies and only allow verified employers to view the listings. Vague Job Requirements and Job Description Scammers try to make their emails sound believable by listing job requirements. Usually, these requirements are so ridiculously simple that almost everyone qualifies Must be 18 years old, Must be a citizen, Must have access to the internet. (You wouldnt be reading their email if you didnt have internet access, right?) The job requirements dont mention years of education or experience. As a rule of thumb, if its a real job, the requirements will be quite specific. Job scam emails usually dont include clear job descriptions, either. Many job seekers say that when they ask fora job descriptionor list of job duties, they get the brush-off. The interviewer either ignores the questions or says something like Dont worry, well train you. Unprofessional Emails Some emails from scammers are well-written, but many arent. Real companies hire professionals who can write well. If the email contains spelling, capitalization, punctuation or grammatical mistakes, be on your guard. Heres an example submi tted by a reader The menschengerecht 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 anthroponym is Mrs. Ann Jernigan you are required to set up a yahoo mail account(mail.yahoo.com) and a yahoo instant messenger. In this example, the mistakes include Capitalization errors Human resources should be Human Resources, and yahoo should be YahooPunctuation errors Commas, periods, and parentheses should be followed by a spaceGrammatical errors Human resources have reviewed should be Human Resources has reviewed... Online Interviews via Messaging Services Many attempted scams say that the interview will take place online using an instant messaging service. The scammers often include instructions for setting up and contacting the hiring manager and may ask for confidential information. Tip If youre applying for an online job and youre told that the interview wil l take place online via instant message, research the company and its representatives before you agree to an interview. And if you agree to be interviewed, ask detailed questions about the job during the interview. Dont give out confidential information such as your bank account, credit card or Social Security numbers. Dont be fooled just because the interview questions sound real. Emails Dont Include Contact Information If the email doesnt include the companys address and phone, its a good bet that its a scam. And its a good bet that its a scam if the interviewer makes an excuse for using a personal email address by saying the companys servers are down, or the company is experiencing too many problems with spam,or the company hasnt yet set up its email system. Some scam emails will look like they come from real companies. One reader reported that The scammers email address was jobssenergy-world.com. The real company email is jobssenergyworld.com Tip Look at the email address c arefully, then copy/paste it into the search box. You can also type in the word scam after the email address to see if someone else has reported the company. Search Results Dont Add Up? Before agreeing to an interview, do your research. If its a real company, you should be able to find information about the company by doing an online search. Finding information does not guarantee that the company is legit, but if you cant find anything, you can bet its a scam. One reader got a scam job offer from Fijax.com Firstly their email is very unprofessional there is no signature at the end. When I checked for the company on Google, I found nothing, not even a website Some scammers pretend to represent real companies. One of our readers reported that she received a job offer from Proctor and Gambel, but the real company is named Procter Gamble. Another reader says that he was offered a job by someone who claimed to represent Gloprofessionals, but when he did his research, he found out it was a scam ALWAYS contact the REAL company or business and ask if this employee exists, that is how I found out this employee was a fraud. Tip Sophisticated scammers sometimes set up nice-looking websites but looks can be deceiving. Try this go to the Domain White Pages and type the companys web address into the domain or IP address box and click the go button. The results will tell you the date when the website was created. If the website is less than a year old, be on your guard.Tip When searching for information about the company, search for both the companys name and the email address. Also, copy/paste paragraphs from the email into the search box. Scammers may change the company name but re-use the other parts of the email, and its possible youll find an identical email posted online. Youre Asked to Provide Confidential Information? Some scammers ask for your bank account information to set up direct deposit or transfer money to your account, or ask you to open a new ban k account and provide the information to them Other scammers will tell you to go to a website and fill out a credit report form or provide confidential information so they can put you on the company insurance. Identity theft scams try to get you to provide your Social Security number and birth date and other personal information. Tip Before entering personal information online, check to make sure the website is secure by looking at the web address bar. The address should be https// not http// Sending Money or Valuables, Using Your Personal Bank Account Some of my readers tell me that theyve received checks that look like real cashiers checks. They are instructed to deposit the check, keep some of the money for themselves and send the rest of the money to someone else via Western Union or Money Gram. Then, a few days or weeks later, they get a call from the bank saying the check is fake. They have lost the money they sent. Heres an example from a reader Once you receive the check , First of all, I want you to head right away to your bank and get the check cashed. Deduct your first-week pay which is $500, and Deduct extra $100 for the Money Gram sending fee and proceed to the nearest Money Gram outlet around you to make payment to my wife travel agent. Some scammers ask to use your personal bank account to transfer money from one account to another account. It is called money laundering, and its against the law. Other scams ask you to receive and forward packages from your home. These packages might contain stolen goods or illegal substances. They Want You to Pay for Something? Legitimate companies dont ask for money. If youre told that you need to purchase software or pay for services, beware. Here are three examples. Buy this software They were offering $15 hr for training and $24.75 to start. I was so excited to work from home and actually be paid a decent wage. The interview went well, and I was told I have the job. YAY Then I was told that they were going to send me a brand new HP laptop for work, but I needed to pay for the software for it. I thought not a problem Ive had to upgrade in the past for jobs. Well here is the RED FLAG We need you to send $312 Western Union for software costs...Pay for a credit report The job will require you to work in a high financial environment, so it is our corporate policy that we perform financial verification check on all employees to ensure applicant registration info. Its corporate policy that we have applicants sent through our link, so we are compliant with the U.S employment standards act... Fill out the form and indicate that you want the free report. Heres what a reader had to say about this scam ...These companies are using the internet to first get a job seeking people to use their site and then be told they need a credit check to apply for a job thru their site, then that company charges an unauthorized fee on your credit card which you used to pay a $1.00 and one time fee for the credit check. Preying on those who can least afford it Shame on you Pay to have your resume reviewed You have a lot of strong, relevant experience and are an excellent candidate although it would be best to improve your resume before doing anything with it. I can refer you to a resume writing expert that can improve your resume to the standard we are looking for, and I believe he charges around $150 or so... Your Gut Says Its a Scam? Researching the company is your best defense, but some scammers are very clever. If you start to feel that things arent right, trust your intuition. Ask questions and pay close attention to the answers. Slow the process down and dont be pressured into making a commitment or giving out personal information. Do more research. If it turns out to be a scam, report it to the authorities.