These Common Job Scams Are Waiting For Victims
Recruitment scams can lead to financial loss, identity theft, and even physical danger, as scammers may use personal information to commit crimes or lure victims into dangerous situations
The pandemic and layoffs tripled the chances of job seekers becoming victims and losing their money. In the U.S. alone victims lose $2 billion annually in job scams, and 14 million of people are exposed to these scams, according to Better Business Bureau. The Federal Trade Commission received 22,000 employment fraud reports in just a few months in 2022.
Scammers often reach out to job seekers on LinkedIn or other job websites, and schedule an online cursory job interview, followed by a confirmation of hire, and conditions that need to be fulfilled. The process is usually short, with victims receiving job offers in a day or two. Scammers are required to provide personal information, including bank account numbers, ask to purchase equipment, or request an upfront fee. Amazon and Walmart are two of the most impersonated employers in the U.S.
Fake Check Scams: Jobs asking to Pay for Equipment/Training/Other Purposes
In the most common job scam, victims are asked to pay for the equipment needed to start a new job. Money is sent via a counterfeit check. The money looks legit in the bank account for a few days and victims are urged to use it immediately by buying gift cards and providing the numbers from the back to an “equipment vendor”. The bank determines the check is fraudulent and takes real money from the victim’s account (How to recognize a fake check).
Sometimes scammers send a check with more money than it was agreed. They use a last-minute excuse to explain why they overpaid and ask to send the money to a third party. Victims wire money and, after their bank declines the check, they have to repay with their own money.
In car wrap scams, victims agree to put wrap advertising on their cars. They receive fake checks and send money to a third company, a supposed vendor, that would put the wrap on the car. People who search for caregiving jobs, often are asked to buy wheelchairs or similar equipment with counterfeit checks. Personal assistants are asked to buy gift cards and send the numbers to their new “managers”.
2. Reshipping Goods Bought With Stolen Credit Cards
Scammers buy expensive goods using stolen credit card data bought on the Dark Web and hire job seekers to do reshipping jobs. Victims receive boxes with electronics, luxury items, and equipment, and are asked to repackage and send them to a third address, often outside of the U.S. Victims or “mules” are never paid for their work and may become a part of criminal investigations. The scam is very common and usually short-lived, victims lose weeks of their time doing unpaid labor.
3. Mystery Shopping Scams
Victims are recruited as mystery shoppers and asked to “test” money-sending services like Western Union or MoneyGram. The shoppers receive fake checks and are asked to deposit them in their personal bank accounts. After they need to send half of the received money via a money service and keep the remaining money as their pay. As usual with counterfeit checks, the victims pay for the bank’s losses with their real money. Alternatively, mystery shoppers are often asked to buy gift cards to “test” them and send numbers from the back.
4. Personal Information Theft
Job seekers are asked to provide a lot of personal information, including their government IDs and bank accounts, very early in the job search process, usually even before an interview. Scammers take the provided personal details and use them for identity theft or sell data on the Dark Web.
5. Pyramid Marketing Scams
Pyramid companies do not make money from selling products, even if they claim so. The only source of money for them is recruiting more people who would “invest” in the product. Victims are asked to invite more people to the pyramid to make money. Examples of pyramid companies are BurnLounge, USANA Health Sciences, and Vemma. Other companies, like Herbalife, Amway, and Mary Key, were investigated by the Federal Trade Commission as pyramid schemes and faced civil lawsuits from their victims.
Stuffing envelope schemes are variations of pyramid scams. Victims are required to pay a fee for the job of stuffing envelopes at home, but in return, they get instructions on how to recruit others to do the same and receive a fee only when a new victim joins and pays their own fee.
6. Visa Scam for Working in Other Countries
Job seekers receive job offers to work for well-known companies in other countries and are asked to pay immigration fees. Scammers often ask for many rounds of fees, claiming that they have issues with immigration services and need to pay them to resolve the problems.
7. Assembling Products Scams
Job seekers get hired for job positions to assemble crafts or small projects at home. They asked to pay fees for training and buy supplies for the products. The “employer” doesn’t pay for the assembled product and just rejects it because of quality issues or similar problems.
What to be aware of when looking for a job online:
Very vague job descriptions or jobs that do not require any skills, but pay a lot, might be fraudulent and should be treated with caution.
No employer would ask you to buy gift cards and send them numbers from the back or upfront money just to start a job.
Scammers often use messaging services or social media to communicate with victims and conduct job interviews, which is not how an interview process typically works.
Job seekers need to pay attention to spelling and grammatical errors in recruitment communication. Scammers are often located in countries where English is not a native language.
It’s a good practice to Google companies and people in contact, and use the keyword “scam” in the search. Other victims might share their experiences with scammers online.
Urgency is always a red flag. Legit recruiters give people a few days to think through a job offer and do not pressure job seekers to accept the job on the spot.
If a check is credited to a bank account and money is available, it doesn’t mean that the check can’t be fraudulent. Banks need two to seven business days to process checks, and real money can be taken from a bank account to cover banks’ losses. A cashier’s check can be counterfeited as well.
It’s almost impossible to return money lost with fraudulent checks. If you have become a victim, try to report the case to these organizations:
Gift card companies should be notified immediately. In some situations, a company can refund the victim’s money if reported quickly enough (How to report a gift card scam). Sometimes it’s even possible to reverse a payment with wire transfer companies if they are contacted immediately.
