Other LanguagesEmployment Scams
In today’s economy it can be tough to find a job. Local and international scam artists are taking advantage of a competitive job market and conning students out of their hard earned cash.
Employment scams are advertised in a variety of ways (telephone solicitations, mailings, signs by the side of the road, etc.) but the majority of modern scammers are using email to draw-in computer savvy students. Typically, we see unsolicited job offers that appear to come from employers or job-listing services. These offers will either offer large amounts of pay for easy, stay at home work, or will ask you to pay an “up-front fee” for services.
One of the most common employment scams is packaged as an offer to become a “secret shopper.” This scam promises that you’ll be working on behalf of either a major retailer or a variety of local manufacturers and retailers interested in evaluating customer services in their stores. All you have to do is spend your days shopping at various retailers and report on your experiences. Sounds great, right?!? So, what’s the catch? You can tell if you’re being scammed because you’ll be asked to pay an up-front fee for a “certification” or pay for a list of companies ready to hire.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, “The shopping certifications offered in advertising or unsolicited email is almost always worthless. A list of companies that hire mystery shoppers is available for free; and legitimate mystery shopper jobs are on the internet for free. Consumers who try to get a refund from promoters of mystery shopping jobs usually are out of luck. Either the business doesn’t return phone calls, or if it does, it’s to try another pitch.”
These types of unsolicited job offers may also be phishing emails, an email aiming to collect your personal information with the hope of using your identity to rack up fraudulent charges. To be safe, make sure to avoid any job that requires you to provide personal information in an email, pay money up front or involves sending money by Western Union or Moneygram.
To avoid other types of employment scams:
- Delete unsolicited job offers that arrive in your email box
- Don’t click on any links sent in e-mails
- Verify the company’s information – check them out with Washington Department of Licensing and the Secretary of State’s OfficeDon’t trust offers from companies outside of your area – especially if they are overseas
- Make sure the company is legitimate before you submit to a "credit check" prior to being offered a job
- Never giver your bank account or checking account number to prospective employers
- Check out potential employers with the Better Business Bureau
- Stay away from companies that require you to pay upfront “fees” to work
Be suspicious of if an employer uses a common e-mail account such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail or MSN instead of a corporate domain, or if the only provided contact information is a PO Box or a number that always goes to voicemail.