You’ve been presented with a fantastic opportunity! Easy work from the convenience of your home. A huge chunk of cash coming your way. They don’t require any experience. No questions asked. Sounds good? It’s probably one of those dreaded job scams.
Job scams have become increasingly common in recent years. Scammers use innovative and devastating tricks to fool job seekers into giving them money or providing personal information. It’s time you knew how to spot them and not fall victim to these fraudsters.
Today you’ll learn: what are the most common job scams; how to can tell them apart from legitimate job offers; what to do if you suspect you are being scammed; and how to stay safe in your job hunting by avoiding red flags.
The most common job scams out there in 2024
Packing envelopes from home
Envelope stuffing or assembly jobs are the most common among fraudsters. Your first task will be to purchase a kit of supplies upfront that will supposedly enable you to make big money by packing envelopes or assembling different products at home. After you’ve bought the kit, however, you’ll discover that either there either is no work, or it pays very little.
Data entry fake jobs
Easy money, easy work. This job promises to pay you for entering data into a spreadsheet or database. They specifically ask for no prior experience because most of the time you will have to pay for training courses. Either that or purchase expensive software or straight on pay some access fees upfront. Once they have your money, you’ll never hear from them again.
Personal assistant job
These job offers usually come from scammers posing as legitimate companies. They will provide a massive salary for the position of personal assistant. They will ask you for personal information or even a sum of money that you need to send to secure your job. It’s a trap.
Travel mystery shopper
A scam that finds victims in people who love to travel, this job promises to pay for you to go around the world and review hotels and restaurants. They will most likely say that they will pay for your travel and accommodation, but they will ask for personal information to make reservations. Sometimes they’ll skip this part altogether and ask you for some travel expenses and assure you that they will provide the rest.
Virtual assistant jobs
Similar to personal assistant jobs, but these involve working remotely. Again, they’ll ask you for personal information or payment for training, software, or equipment.
Package handler job scams
While every other scam in this list leads to financial ruin, this one can be highly illegal and you would be the one committing the crime. The idea behind this “job” is that you will receive and re-ship packages for a company. Oftentimes this is a front for an illegal shipping operation, the packages containing either illicit substances or stolen goods.
How to identify job scams
The allure of easy financial riches might cast a shadow on what we see as too good to be true. Job scammers make it increasingly difficult to identify what is real and what is fraud. They are creative, they are convincing, and they’re flaunting stashes of cash in front of our eyes.
Here are the warnings signs to watch out for, so that you won’t fall victim to job scams:
Easy money for little work. This promise might easily cloud your judgment and you might be tempted to give it a try thinking “What’s the worst that could happen?”. We’ll tell you. It’s financial ruin, identity theft, and getting involved in illegal activities.
Upfront fees or expensive training materials, and software or kits that you need to purchase. A legit employer will never ask you for money. Period.
Poorly written posting with spelling and grammar errors. When you read something that sounds a little off, our advice is to stay away. You’ll notice weird phrasings or just a text that is hard to read. They might be written by an AI or translated from another language with no additional proofreading.
You’ve never heard of the company that contacts you. Granted, there are a lot out there, but a quick online search will show you if this company exists or if it is made up for the purpose of this scam.
They are asking for personal information supposedly to draft the contract for you. That’s a big no-no. The way contracts work is that the employer sends a contract filled in with all their data. You can search for the authenticity of the company and CEO or head of the department and then decide to fill it in on your end.
This is how scammers get you:
They send phishing emails. Some of them look like legitimate job offers. But most email carriers have advanced security that flags them as dangerous.
They have fake websites that look like real companies. Use your judgment when you go on these websites. Your browser might flag most of them as an unsecure connection, but still, proceed with caution. Or, better yet, close it and never go back.
They create social media posts that promise high-paying jobs. Ignore posts that offer incentives like “work from home and make thousands of dollars a week” or “earn six figures with no experience required.”
They call you pretending to be fake recruiters or companies. They will pretend to have seen your resume online and ask for your personal information or bank details to perform background checks or to set up a direct deposit.
How to avoid job scams
Step 1: Research the company – look into its website and social media presence. Then go on job review sites like Glassdoor or Fairygodboss to find the business or an employee. If anything at all smells fishy, it probably is.
Step 2: Ask for references. They can be from current or former employees. There are two outcomes to this: either the sender will get cold feet and never contact you again, or they will give some names and LinkedIn profiles. In the latter case, you can engage with an employee online. Read on to learn what questions you should ask.
Step 3: Check the legitimacy of the job – see if the company’s contact info matches the one provided in the job posting. Verify if the company is registered with any governmental authorities.
As you can see, there’s a lot of deep-diving when it comes down to it. Ask around and be confident that the job that sounds like a “once in a lifetime opportunity” isn’t a setup for a scam.
How to ask if a job offer is legitimate
Before you even begin to ask your questions, let’s talk about your mindset. We understand that a job that offers financial freedom by doing very little work sounds tempting. So our advice to you when asking these questions is to do it objectively. A good tip for changing your mindset is to imagine that you’re asking all these questions for a friend, so you can get a little detached from the financial prospect that looms on the horizon. With this in mind, here’s what you should ask (for a friend):
Tell me more about the company. Where is its headquarters, who runs the place, and is parking available?
The first two parts are easy to answer for someone who memorized a script. Of course, you will write down the info and do a Google search and map view of the location to see if any red flags come up. The third one is meant to throw the other person off. They’ll probably take a minute to answer, and when they do, you’ll instantly know if they are lying or not because you can double-check using google maps. Use this example, or pick another one that only a person who’s been there before can answer.
Tell me more about the job and the compensation package.
A seasoned recruiter will give precise details of this job and will use different phrasing than that in the job ad. If the person is just reading the job posting back to you, that’s a red flag.
Remember, in your mind, you are asking for a friend. Decide if the answers you get are truthful and if they seem otherwise, stop all communication with that person.
Red flags when talking to recruiters
Three major red flags might indicate a scam. Be aware of them and don’t fall into their trap.
Aggressive sales tactics
Recruiters who pressure you to accept a job offer or sign a contract without giving you enough time to review the details is a major red flag. Also, never sign a contract that was not filled in by the employer. The info in the contract will allow you to research the company and verify it.
Vague job descriptions
A job description that says things like “laptop for free”, “big money in your account now”, or “earn (insert huge amount here) in a month from home” and very little else is most likely a job scam. If the description is all about the promise of financial gain, proceed with caution. Or, better yet, disregard it.
Requests for upfront payments
Any job interview that starts with the recruiter telling you that you need to purchase some piece of equipment, software, or training materials is a scam.
Also, be wary of scammers who send you a check for a substantial sum of money for you to buy said equipment and then ask you to send the remaining money back through cryptocurrency, wire service, or gift cards.
What does a fake job email look like?
Most of the time they are sending them from a free email provider like Gmail or Yahoo, never from a business account. Also, be careful with the account. Sometimes scammers create fake business accounts that look like legit ones. Instead of the domain being company.com, it’s company-biz.com.
It is a job offer for a position you never applied for.
It has a generic greeting, like Hello Sir/Madam.
Do you know what generic greeting you should avoid when you write your cover letter?
It has poor spelling or grammar, capitalization is sometimes off, and it seems off altogether.
Sometimes it contains attachments. Never open attachments from email addresses you don’t recognize!
What do you do when you come across a suspicious email or web address?
Firstly, don’t interact with its content!
Secondly, report the email as phishing directly in your inbox or forward it to your national authority.
Let Jujur find your next legit job!
We are a trusted recruitment agency dedicated to helping candidates find their dream jobs abroad. And, hey, if you have any concerns about the legitimacy of our recruiters, now you know how to check for red flags.
Be safe in your job search!
