Top Online Job Scams in 2013
While the recession may be slowing, the targeting of jobless or underemployed individuals via online job scams is as prevalent as ever. Although job scams have been around for years, scammers especially took advantage during the past several years after many people lost their job or had hours cut. However, the United States Government and individuals are fighting back and bringing online job scammers to justice.
Online scammers pay to look legitimate
Not only do on-line job scammers use tactics to steal money from unsuspecting individuals who may be desperate for employment, but they even pay writers or others to write their advertisements so that the ads sound real and have an official-looking appearance. This has the potential to draw in many individuals who are unaware of or just so desperate for a job that they fail to see the red flags. “Guide to Avoiding the Job Search Scams & Scammers” points out that bogus job scam ads can look legitimate. Because the job posting or website can be designed to look legitimate, it can be difficult to spot scammers and con artists. They make their ads “look snazzy and professional” but that “no one is home.” There are several tips a job seeker can use to identify the bogus jobs and distinguish them from legitimate online job postings.
Never pay money to find a job
Many of the online job scams feature advertisements promising job seekers career employment or a lucrative income. They just need an upfront payment for their “secret” information or list of these jobs. This may require revealing your credit card number or bank account number for the “small fee” associated with obtaining this information. They also need your personal information such as social security number. After all, every employer must ask you to reveal your social security number for tax purposes.
There are many legitimate on-line job websites that charge no fees whatsoever. You do not have to pay any money for obtaining a job or job information.The Privacy Rights Clearinghousewarns individuals of the red flags associated with online job scams. Do not give out your bank account number to any online company. There have been many instances where a job seeker has had money taken from their bank account by job scammers who then disappear and the job seeker never gets a job.
Online employers do not need you to scan them a copy of your driver’s license or social security card. Some of the online scams may also have a “Foreign Agent Agreement” in the fine print of their “contract” or information. Many people, sadly, do not read “fine print.” If there is a “foreign” agreement, a job seeker will want to consider how someone in another country can guarantee them a local job. The bottom line is, never pay money upfront for any online job. It is most likely a scam.
Work-at-home jobs may be a scam
While there are many legitimate jobs that offer opportunities to work-at-home, including consulting, writing, customer service and several other types of positions, the work at home scam is an old scam with a new twist. Now the scammers advertise on the internet and make their advertisements look and sound very convincing. With the internet, there is a new twist on the old envelope stuffing job scam. Now job seekers are told they can get a job as an “email processor.”
You have to learn to distinguish between jobs that may be actual work-at-home opportunities and those that are almost certainly a scam.Scambusters.org points outthat ads promising income from envelope stuffing, putting craft kits together, medical billing and mystery shopping are the types of scams often advertised as “opportunities” to make money. These advertisements often look legitimate and may be posted to legitimate online job sites such as monster.com, Career Builder, Craigslist and other similar sites. However, Beverly Williams, President and Founder of American Association of Home-Based Businesses, says that there are “very few legitimate work at home job opportunities available.”
Think before you leap. What legitimate company needs envelopes stuffed, emails “processed” or medical billing done from home? Doesn’t the person purchasing a craft “kit” from a store put it together? Ask yourself questions such as "What would be the purpose of any employee putting together a craft kit?" When you ask yourself these questions, you may be able to quickly determine that a job is just an online scam.
Too good to be true
Most individuals have heard the saying that “if it looks (or sounds) to good to be true, it probably is.” This is especially important in being able to identify online job scams. Online job scams often go so far as stealing logos from legitimate job sites or companies to make their own site look legitimate or like it has the endorsement of the government agencies or the Better Business Bureau. These “jobs” often offer very lucrative salaries and of course, with little or no previous experience. These online ads may offer “inside information” to jobs that are not posted to “regular” job seekers.
Government Careers, Inc.promised job seekers lucrative careers working for the postal service, border patrol and other government agencies through a series of online advertisements. All job seekers had to do was pay a one-time $119 fee which would “guarantee” that the individual could pass any test with a score of 95% or higher. Other fees were also charged. But consumers quickly discovered there were no available jobs through Government Careers Inc and there were not even any government jobs exams awaiting them after paying the fees.
In August, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it was mailing checks to individuals scammed by the online ads of Government Careers Inc. The defendants were also permanently prohibited from ever again “selling employment-related products or services.”
Another such advertisement that offered lucrative earnings was “Real Wealth.” It also operated under several other names. It has now been prosecuted in federal court and a judgment issued against the company and executives. In February 2013, checks of more than $685,000 were sent to Real Wealth victims. Real Wealth “preyed on the elderly, disabled and other consumers” promising that they would show how they could make money working from home when the individuals purchased a booklet from Real Wealth.
Advertisements claimed that “all I do is mail 30 postcards everyday and I make an extra $350 a week!” Job seekers who paid the required fees to Real Wealth could also “rake in up to $1,500+ per week or more in solid cash” from “secrets” regarding the “$700 billion banking industry bailout.” It was determined that the promises of wealth from working at home were “false or unsubstantiated.”
The FTC also reveals details of the case againstPenbrook Publications, which promised job seekers “as much as $225 an hour” to become “certified” rebate processors.
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced a crackdown on several other scammers. In addition to details of recently prosecuted scammers who preyed on individuals through their deceptive and fictitious online job postings, the “Operation Bottom Dollar Press Conference” is played on the FTC website.Listening inmay greatly help job seekers understand the nature of and extent that scammers have gone to in actual cases when posting fictitious online “job” opportunities.
Learn how to report online job scams
Realize that if a job posting looks or sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There should be no requests to scan your identification or social security card to the “employer” and you do not have to pay upfront fees for legitimate jobs. Do not send your bank account number to any online “employer.“ Job seekers have had a great deal of money drained from their bank accounts by job scammers. Do not ever send a fee to anyone. Do not provide any details to any individual or online company with a "foreign" agreement.
If there is a fictitious ad on a job site such as Career Builder, Monster or Indeed, look for the link to report the job; That is the first course of action. Report the company to the FTC or to the office of your state attorney general. When you are armed with a wealth of information to identify the most popular types of job scams in 2013, as well as the tactics that scammers use to bilk job seekers of a great deal of money for non-existent jobs, you can steer clear of these scammers and aid in getting them prosecuted.
