Be Wary of Online Job Scams

The internet can be a very useful tool for finding out industry information, and for hunting down job leads. However, the unwary job seeker can find themselves in financial and even legal trouble if they become involved in a scam.

Identity Theft

Also known as a phishing scam, this term describes how personal information—such as a social security number, bank account or credit card number—is obtained by a fraudulent “employer” and then used to create a false identity or withdraw money from accounts. Protect yourself from identity theft by removing all personal references from any documents you place online—and never give out this type of information until you know beyond a doubt that the job opportunity is legitimate.

Reshipping, Check-cashing, and Money-laundering Scams

These types of scams begin with an online job offer that claims to provide a lucrative job opportunity. An employer may ask you to receive, repackage and reship items overseas, cash checks (which are typically counterfeit or rubber) in your personal bank account then forward the money to an overseas recipient, or transfer money  from one bank account to another using your own personal account as a “middleman”. All of these jobs are fronts for illegal operations.

All three of these scams can mean felony charges for anyone involved, even if they carried out these illegal activities unknowingly. In addition, you may be held financially responsible for cashing counterfeit checks.

These “job opportunities” may appear legitimate at first glance—in some cases a genuine-sounding position may be offered, and the illegal nature of the business might not become apparently immediately—but no legitimate employer should ever ask you to use your personal bank account as a holding pen for company money.

Work at Home Scams

There are genuine work-at-home job opportunities out there, but sorting the good from the bad requires close examination. The scams usually promise unrealistically high incomes for doing very basic work such as stuffing envelopes, filling in online forms, or assembling craft items. What usually happens is that the job opportunity turns out to require special equipment or training that the job-seeker must pay for, or the work that is done is said to be of too low a standard to be paid for. In general, be very wary of any work at home opportunity that requires you pay a fee for any aspect of the work, and avoid any job that claims you can earn hundreds or thousands of dollars a day doing basic tasks.

Also, please review our Tools to Find a Job section.  If you need more help, please consider using a Career Counselor.