Nowadays we all tend to rely more on online searches for everything including jobs. Therefore, the scams are also on a high these days where people fall prey to lucrative offers.
The offers are tempting because it promises you a huge payout without putting in much of an effort.
Moreover, the work from home trend is at an all-time high, providing the scammers with huge opportunities to scam people more than ever.
It is not like every company out there is a scam, but if you are not alert, then it is very easy for you to fall in the trap and lose out huge amount of money. If you look around then you will find a number of examples within your friend’s circle who have been a victim of these scams.
These scammers are present in some of the popular job portals as well, even when these portals have strict guidelines to stop them.
So, you need to be extra careful about where you invest your time, if you are looking for a quick pay without any hard work, then you are most likely to become the target of these wrong doers.
Scammers Targeting Women:
If you look at work from home scams, then you will see that they mostly target women who are between the ages of 18 to 49.
Within this range, the women who are having babies are the soft target because they are most likely to look for a job which will allow them to stay at home to take care of their baby and also earn something by the end of the month.
These women who are seeking jobs from home are not that affluent as well, therefore the advertisements which promise them quick money attracts them most.
Moreover, when you don’t have any proper college degree, then you know that it will be hard for you to earn that much easier, so these kinds of job offers which says that you don’t need any degree to earn big money make them greedy.
How To Identify Online Job Scams or Fake Job Ads?
There are some easy ways to identify these scams, but that is only possible if you keep your eyes open and are aware of the hints that you need to look for. Here we are listing some of the pointers that will help you in identifying the job scams.
1. Advertisement without a physical address:
When any company is coming up with job requirement, then in order to promote their brand they provide the name of their brand in bold.
They will also mention their physical address of contact along with other important details that will help you to identify the company.
Moreover, you must also keep in mind that the legitimate firms always ask the candidates to send their CV in the company’s email address and not to any public e-mail address like yahoo, hot mail or Gmail.
2. Be aware of the phishing:
The scammer plays around with the spelling and if you are not careful then you will hand over all the important details including your bank account number and password to these scammers.
They lure you with your bank name and ask you to confirm the account by clicking on the link, but if you look closely then you will realize that the name of your bank is mis – spelt.
When you see such a thing you must not share your password or click on such a link even when it promises that by doing so you will land yourself a job.
3. Making money doing nothing:
There is nothing like free food in the world therefore, when you see someone promises that you will be paid a certain amount at the end of each month for doing almost nothing, then it is definitely a scam.
In today’s time people are desperate to make money in order to keep up a lifestyle and due to that they look for quick money which these scammers offer.
If you go through something which sounds too good to be true, then it is best to avoid such job openings. You must always ask yourself why someone would pay you such a huge amount for doing nothing!
4. Administrative assistants:
There are some genuine administrative assistant job and then there are some which is one of the scams.
In the guise of administrative assistant what you will be doing is transferring the stolen money electronically. These job postings are quite tricky and you must do proper research before you go ahead with the job else you will end up helping people who are working against the law.
Therefore, if you are asked to transfer money from some personal account or PayPal account or even from Western Union Account to another account, then in most likelihood you are part of a wire fraud.
Here you will be asked to keep a certain percentage the amount that you are transferring so it can be anything from $10 to $10,000.
5. Job from a stranger:
If you are being offered a job without any background verification or any written application, then you must not get indulged in these kinds of jobs. The one thing that you must not divulge is your Social Security Number because it might end up being a case of identity theft.
6. Do not involve your money:
Sometimes you will be asked to partner a business by investing a certain amount on your behalf. It is better to avoid these offers because there are high chances that they might lead to some kind of fraud.
7. Limited time offer:
You will find some job offers Online which asks you to act quickly else you will lose out on a golden opportunity.
You must ignore these offers because whenever someone is pressurizing you for something then there must be something fishy, so don’t fall into the trap.
8. Mass job recruitment:
If you see that the companies are employing a huge number of employees at a go, then it is most likely to be a scam because mass recruitment only happens when the organization is new and is setting up their operation.
9. Random emails offering you a job:
There are times when you will see that there are several emails offering a job when you haven’t even applied for one. When you see these kinds of job offering then you must take the onus of verifying the offers first before accepting it.
10. Asking for the credit report:
If any company is asking for your credit report in order to get a job then you must not provide them with that. No legitimate company will ever ask you for your credit report in order to complete the application process. If they ask you to do so, then you must not accept the job offer.
11. Salary details not clear:
When you are joining any organization, then the salary structure must be very clear to you.
If you have any doubt then ask the related professional to explain it and if they are not able to come up with an hourly rate or a monthly salary then investigate about the company further.
12. Legitimate websites with illegitimate offers:
There are some websites which are known to be a legitimate one, but that doesn’t mean that every ad that gets listed in there are legitimate too.
The websites never take responsibilities of the ads that are posted in there so there are high chances that you can get scammed by these advertisements. Research thoroughly first before you get into this.
13. Alluring offers:
When you will get a job offer which provides you with perks more than salary then it is something you must warn yourself from taking up.
If it says that you will be able to enjoy some big mansion and wonderful location then you must ask yourself questions that why would someone provide you so much and what their interests are?
These are likely to be the scams that you must avoid.
14. Phone numbers and the name:
If the name that appeared in the ad is different from that of the person you are communicating over the telephone, then it must ring the bell in your mind.
Beware of these kinds of name duplication and you must stay away from them. Even in case of phone number you will find the same thing because the scammers might use the same number, but every time the job advertisement is posted it will have different names.
When you see this happening, it is better to stop right away without carrying out the communication any further.
15. Don’t take transportation that is offered:
In case the ad states that you will be taken to some destination in a group after meeting in a particular place, then it is better that you take your own vehicle along with you to avoid anything like getting stripped of all your possessions in the middle of nowhere.
How to Prevent or Avoid Online Job Scams:
If you want to help yourself from falling prey to these kinds of scammers then there are several things that you can keep in mind.
These scammers are very clever, so they might have an answer to all your queries, but if you have a little bit of doubt about their intention then it is best to avoid them. But in order to clarify the truth of the matte, you must follow these guidelines strictly-
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Never share your personal bank details or PayPal account details with the employer
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Never forward money or wire money to any employer
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If the employer is new, then always ask them to make you a payment in cash rather than doing direct deposit
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If you are asked to keep a certain amount for transferring the funds then you must get a hint that you are getting involved in some fraudulent case
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When you meet the employer in person and have been in the physical contact address of the office, then only you can go ahead with the direct deposit otherwise never share your bank account number
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If you are hired for transferring amount from one account to another, then you will go through a rigorous interview session several times. It won’t be done through single interview, email or telephone. Moreover, you will be asked to transfer the amount from their business accounts and they won’t even touch your account for once
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When you realize that you have become a part of the scam then it is better to close the bank account
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In case of wire transfer frauds you must immediately contact the agent of the Secret Service so that they can handle the operation further
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You must also visit the company’s website to ensure that they are genuine and in case they are not able to produce one, then it is a warning sign and it must be enough to put you off then and there
Most scams happen because people just want to get rich very easily; therefore the scammers find it easy to lure the victims towards them.
If you are not smart enough to look into the offers carefully then you will land yourself up in the scam even before you realize it.
When you are getting into something you must ask yourself questions about whether it is a legitimate source or not. If someone is trying to get you some easy money then you must doubt their intentions right away because there is no one who is sitting there to help you out without any intention.
Make sure that you never provide your personal information like Passport number or SSN or any other personal details like the credit card or debit card number to anybody.
Now that you have an idea about how to identify the scams from the genuine offers and ways to avoid these scams, then hopefully you will not fall prey to these kinds of illegitimate offerings.
It is not good idea to waste your hard earned money in this way when you can avoid them by just curbing down the greed in you.
