Job Scams, Redux

Speaking of job scams...

Just last week, I posted about some of the scams hitting the job boards. And this week I received a fine example of one. I applied for a bookkeeping job posted on Craigslist, and received this in reply:

Thanks for your interest in our office position. Just to restate the job duties for clarity, you will be answering the phone, scheduling meetings, and running company errands in a company car. When running errands you will be provided with a company credit card to make supply purchases, etc.

We have had some bad experiences with prior employees taking advantage of having access to a company credit card in the past, so before we can schedule an interview, we need you to get a credit check. We prefer you use http://www.nationalcreditchecker.com to obtain this information. When you submit your information they will send you your credit score. When you email me your credit score, we can schedule an interview. Please do not email me your credit report, as this may have private information in it. Just send me your credit score. If you have a low credit score, that will not prevent you from having an interview with us, as we just need to make sure you are an honest individual.

Please send me your schedule with availability. I am looking forward to your response, thanks.

(Name deleted)
HR Manager
KB Collins Contracting LLC.
(deleted)@collinscontracting.com
www.collinscontracting.com

The first thing I noticed was the change in the job—I applied for a bookkeeping job, and now I'm being offered what appears to be a clerical/administrative assistant position. But I understood after reading the second paragraph: they want me to go to their recommended web site and submit information for a credit report. My scammer even tells me not to e-mail her the credit report, as it may have private information—just send her the final score. I'm supposed to be reassured by her concern for my privacy.

It is completely legal for an employer to run a credit check on job candidates. However, the Fair Credit Reporting Act sets strict rules governing how they may go about doing so:

• The employer must notify you, in writing, that they will be using a credit or background check. This notification must be somewhat more inclusive than an offhanded sentence in an e-mail—it must explain to you the scope of the the report and how it will be used.
• The employer must also notify you, in writing, of your rights under the FCRA with regard to this background check.
• The employer must receive your written authorization for the credit check.
• If the credit check results in adverse action, such as being passed over for promotion (or in your case, being rejected as a job applicant), the employer is required to tell you beforehand that adverse action will be taken because of your credit check, and provide you with a copy of the report. It is required to notify you again after the action has been taken.

Scammers are always quick to cash in on widespread suffering. Unemployment is rising and job seekers are becoming more and more desperate. Scams targeting the unemployed are the latest fad in fraud.

Remember that desperation makes you vulnerable to these con games. Sending a résumé already means giving an uncomfortable amount of your history to a total stranger. Include only the minimum information needed to contact you—your e-mail address and/or phone number—and do not provide anything further unless you're handing it to them in a face-to-face interview.

Job Scams

Recently I got a response to one of my Craigslist job applications. Two Word documents were attached; one was a three-page document detailing the nature of the company, the services they provided, their history, and the requirements of the position. The other was an application form requesting my personal information.

I admit I didn't read them in their entirety. I skimmed over the company information (almost two pages' worth) to get to the job requirements. When I got to the part that said I would be depositing receipts into my own bank account, I rolled my eyes and deleted the e-mail. I want to be an accountant, not a money launderer.

As unemployment rises, so does the number of job scams. Scammers prey on the greedy and the desperate—the people who want to get rich without doing work, or (more and more these days) the people who are sinking fast and willing to grab anything that looks like a lifeline. If you've been unemployed for months, your meager savings have evaporated, and you're already behind on the rent, you're suddenly a lot more willing to listen to the guy who says you can make five thousand dollars a week with his foolproof system.

As you search for a real job, stay alert for the fake ones. Online job boards are prime targets for scammers, because they provide relative anonymity with a large pool of potential targets. Here are a few red flags I've found over the course of my job search.

Additional Forms to Fill Out: You've sent your résumé via e-mail, and they responded with an "application form" for you to fill out—either as an attachment or a link. Either way, there is no job. They're just mining you for data, getting your information to sell to spammers, marketers, whoever will pay for it. A web form can also double as a click-through harvester, providing them with hits while they gather your info.

Don't waste your time filling them out. You've already sent your résumé, the next step for an interested employer is to set up an interview. Any further information he needs can be provided in person, including...

The Credit Check: Even if the job has a legitimate need for a credit check, they have no need for it until they have established you as a serious candidate for the job—in other words, at the interview. Never, never fill out an agreement for a credit check over the internet. You don't know who's really asking for it, and the information is everything a criminal needs for ID theft.

Too Much Info: Sometimes your scammer will give you a lot of information about his fake company. My scammer sent me a page and a half of extraneous information, making me wonder if he was trying to hire me or sell me something.

Of course, he was trying to sell me something—his lie. A real company might give you a few sentences about itself, but what they're interested in are your qualifications. A scammer is trying to convince you of his credentials. If it looks more like a sales brochure than a job posting, be suspicious.

Fees: They're more common to work-at-home scams, but lately there have been some scammers charging you money to help you find work. It's not actually illegal, but chances are good they're not doing anything you can't do for yourself—and better. Genuine employment agencies do not charge you a fee.

Data Entry Jobs: There are some actual data entry jobs out there, but don't be too surprised if your application garners a sales pitch instead. So far I've only found one data entry job on Craigslist. All the others wanted to sell me lists of online survey sites.

There are some survey sites that will, in fact, pay you to take their surveys. But we're talking about pennies per survey, maybe a buck or two, and certainly not the thousands per week the scammer claims. If you're interested in online surveys, find them via a more trustworthy source. Someone who posted a misleading ad to get you on the hook is not someone who will give you reliable information.

The "Mystery Shopper" ads fall into the same category. The scammers will try to sell you their services finding you "mystery shopper" jobs. A legitimate secret shopper agency will never charge you a fee to apply for their jobs; they make their money from the companies that need the shoppers.

I hope these red flags will help you avoid the scams while you hunt for your next job. You can also find helpful information about job scams at ScamBusters.

Always be wary of someone coming at you with a smile and an answer to all of your problems. — Ginny Sanchez