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Scams in the Job Search |
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Prayer-Soldier writes "
We might think that the lowest of the low is someone who would scam those who are seeking employment. Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous people that attempt to prey upon those who are in need. They seek to take advantage of the desire for work or the desire to improve a work situation as a means to make the scam possible. Scams are often designed to take advantage of our need and trusting nature.
In some cases, the scam can be recognized from the, “if it sounds too good to be true,” rule, but there are other scams that take advantage of their appearance of legitimacy. One of the most common frauds we see is the “work from home” scam. We have heard many an advertisement on the radio and seen the ads in newspapers, magazines, TV, or on what are very legitimate web sites, but the reality is, most of these advertisements are simply hooks for schemes to take our money. Such scams try to take advantage of the legitimacy of the media source to earn our trust.
The Internet has given the capability to mass market the old envelop stuffing or flyer posting scams with the promise of an easy source for an income by working at home. In other cases, it is a variation of the old pyramid schemes, also known as multi-level marketing (MLM). We must also be wary of those websites that advertise they are going to help us avoid scams. They say they have investigated all the potential on-line scams out there and they want to reveal the frauds, but in the process, they did find one or two that are legitimate. The only catch is that after filling in our information or paying to learn about those legitimate opportunities, we find ourselves walking through the maze of another scam.
Not all scams are designed to trick us out of a check. In some cases, the scam is designed to trick us out of personal information that can be used for the purposes of identity theft. While we are in the job hunt, we must provide contact information, but we must be careful about the amount of personal information we reveal.
It is not uncommon that potential employers will require a background check as part of their screening process. We will be asked for a lot of personal information from which to complete the investigation. We are very willing to reveal it because of the potential for a job. Scammers, however, will pose as potential employers only for the purpose of gaining our personal information. Until we confirm the legitimacy of the person on the other side of the phone or an email communication, we must never reveal our social security number or other sensitive information in the process. While we may protect our social security number, revealing too much personal history can still enable an identify thief.
We must also be wary of those who are posing as representatives of what we believe to be legitimate businesses. Some sources through which we may validate the legitimacy of a contact include the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce or through publications that may be found at our local library. The objective is to find a phone number of the legitimate source and then call to see if we are routed to our point of contact. If not, the point of contact could be a scammer that is using the brand name of a legitimate business to get us to lower our guard.
The FBI web site, http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april09/workathome_041709.html contains some descriptions of how to recognize scams. Another good source for learning about potential scams is the Better Business Bureau at http://www.bbb.org/us/consumer-tips-scams. In the end, to protect ourselves against fraud, knowledge of the signs for which to be wary is our best defense. Taking the time to research potential scams can arm us with the information through which we can protect ourselves from the criminal and unscrupulous.
Printed with Permission. Copyright © 9 Jul 09 - http://www.guardianangelstore.com
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Posted on Thursday, July 09 @ 21:29:13 MDT by drbonebrake
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