When it comes to scam artists and cybercrooks, it’s hard to imagine just how low these scumbags will stoop to bilk money from others.
A TV station in Ohio is reporting on scams that take advantage of people who are out of work. The scam artists place ads in newspapers or online classified websites that advertise jobs that sound quite attractive to job-seekers.
When a job-seeker contacts the scammer to inquire about the job, the scammer informs the job-seeker that they must send money to the scammer so they – posing as someone who is hiring people – can conduct a background check.
I’m not saying it’s impossible but I’ve known people who have had to have background checks on them before being hired for a legitimate job, but I don’t recall hearing that any of them had to pay for it.
A background check should be funded by the employer just like drug tests are in every instance I have ever heard about.
The key tip-off to these scams is the request for money. Anyone or any company that is advertising a legitimate job is not likely to be asking for money for any purpose. This is a huge red flag that indicates you are dealing with a scammer.
Other things to look out for is if the job advertiser is using a free e-mail account like those available from Hotmail or Yahoo! These are the favorite e-mail services that just about all the scammers and spammers like to use.
Additionally, just like those e-mail scams you see, these types of classified job scams may also contain misspellings or other errors and may try to convince people to provide personal information.
Be smart, be savvy, put your emotions aside as best you can and you can avoid being scammed by these scumbags.
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