Common Job Offer Scams And How To Protect Yourself

If you’re landed a new job recently, you’ll know the excitement and sense of relief that comes with it. With so many people looking for jobs, in today’s digital age, it’s important to make sure it’s as good as it seems. Fraudulent job offers are becoming increasingly common in the workplace. The cost of a job offer scam can be financial, working for no pay, and the divulgence of personal information. In this article, we look at the common job offer scams and how you can protect yourself from getting scammed.

The Psychology Of A Job Offer

Looking for a job can be a stressful venture, with an underlying sense of hope and anxiety. This can make job seekers vulnerable to being scammed. Whether it’s a social media post, a text message, or an alluring email, a job scam will pull at the emotional strings of its victim. It’s important to keep your guard and be discerning around every possible job opportunity or offer you come across. Upon every possible job opportunity, use these eight common job scams as a filter before going ahead.

1. Fake Job Listings

Identifying a fake job listing will save you a lot of time and trouble. Fake job listings are usually vague with very little specific information. Legitimate job listings should always include a detailed description and include the required job qualifications. Broad Job listings that ask for simple criteria will appeal to a large proportion of the population, which makes them unlikely to be true. Job listings that promise fast earning potential should always be flagged.

Finally, be on the lookout for unprofessional communication when it comes to grammar and syntax, as these are key to avoiding an online job scam.

2. Fake Check Scams

Some job seekers may receive an email that implicates a company that may seem to be legitimate. In this scam, victims often receive a check for an amount over and above what might have been expected. The check comes with instructions to deposit and wire the excess funds to a mentioned fake employer for various job-related expenses. These checks usually bounce and leave you responsible for the full amount that was withdrawn.

3. Pay For Informational Material

This job offer scam involves someone posing as a recruiter who offers informational material to better your chances of getting the position. They promise to give you information to help prepare for an interview at a cost. The reality is that the information they provide is usually available on the employer’s website or the job listing itself. There is therefore no need to pay a fee as the information received is of little to no value in comparison to what is already available.

4. Email Offers Asking For Excessive Information

It’s not uncommon to receive an email from someone who claims to be a recruiter and found your resume online. Although some emails do come from legitimate recruiters, many also come from scammers. These emails ask for sensitive information to be shared such as bank account numbers or identification. Any confidential information should only be requested after the hire has been made official. This information should also be requested through professional means and HR departments that can substantiate their function in a given company.

5. Work-From-Home Jobs

The past several years have seen an uptick in the amount of candidates seeking to work from home. They therefore prioritize any work-from-home positions found online. Scammers are aware of this trend and target remote work job seekers.

Work-from-home scams often require the prospective employee to pay an upfront fee to begin working. There can also be a commission offering if job seekers are able to recruit other candidates. In some cases, these jobs are real, but they are multilevel marketing schemes or pyramid schemes and should be best avoided.

6. Envelope Stuffing

The envelope stuffing scam offers a remote job filling envelopes for a particular company. This usually comes with the guarantee of an attractive weekly pay structure. Scammers require a once-off up-front payment that is said to cover the initial supplies and shipping. The sad result is that after paying the upfront amount, job seekers never receive the envelopes or goods as there is no actual job. Be sure to never pay an up-front amount with the promise of earning a high-yield salary. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

7. Data-Entry Job Scams

Although some data-entry jobs are legit, there are many that aren’t. Illegitimate data-entry jobs claim a high yield earning potential for little work required. Once offered the position, you may be asked to pay an up-front amount for training.

Alternatively, they may ask you for your bank account information. How do you spot these fake jobs if you are looking for a legitimate data-entry job? Be on the lookout for those jobs that are offering a wage that is above the market average.

In addition, always investigate a company website’s legitimacy to verify that they are indeed real.

8. Credit Report Requirement Scams

In this scam, applicants are requested to make their credit history available in order to verify their eligibility. They might claim that the particular job on offer requires someone with financial acumen and therefore someone with a good financial standing. Job seekers are often asked to pay a fee for the credit report, which is not an ethical approach to gaining credit records. While credit checks are performed by many employers, they are usually covered by the employers and handle the credit checks.

Stay In The Know With the Latest Job Offer Scam Warnings

Anti Fraud News is a website designed to keep you updated on the latest scams. As a globally renowned informative blog, Anti Fraud News will help keep vulnerable job seekers protected from falling for a new or not so new scam. They are the trusted informative source for internet fraud scams, phishing scams, holiday scams, and just about every internet-based scam making the rounds.

Keep safe by keeping updated with the latest Job Offer Scams on Anti Fraud News.