spotting employment scams during covid times
hello there! some of you may be job hunting right now, looking for remote work, work from home options, etc. as someone who’s been doing this, i wanted to let you know that you’re absolutely going to be coming across a lot of questionable postings, so here are some tips for spotting them:
1. double check craigslist postings. i’ve come across several where i go back to confirm contact information and i find the post has been flagged for removal. often times, this means the job was bogus, and someone figured it out and went back and alerted the site.
2. if you get answers in your spam, read them carefully. i’ve gotten several responses back from people that have gone straight to my spam inbox. for me, this is pretty questionable. a company might indicate their information will go to your spam inbox, this could still be suspicious. just be cautious.
3. if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. i responded to a nicely worded work from home position and was told he would be paying me 1500 dollars every week. and while that sounds very very nice, it also is very unlikely. a legitimate employer will be paying you by the hour and will give you a set of hours you’ll be working. a lump sum of money is suspect, and likely being used to lure you in.
4. look up their names/contact info. i’ve gotten plenty of emails back that look and sound legitimate. they even have a photo of the person on the bottom. look that info up. if they have a phone number, search for it. i’ve dialed *67 and called a few numbers and found they’re absolutely not real numbers, or they only receive text messages. do not text, always call. also if they say they work for a business, look them up with your local Better Business Bureau. i kept getting ads for an “Expert Collections Agent Wanted”. everything about the ad was weird, so i applied with one of my lesser used email and got a response in about a minute. the website didn’t go anywhere, and my local BBB had five unresolved complaints.
5. no legit WFH/remote company will ask you to pay for a background check. this one is vital, because they can seem really legit all the way up to this point, and then they’ll ask you to pay for your own background check. do not do this. this is not something you should have to pay for. you don’t work for them, you should not be paying them anything.
6. please, please, please be on the lookout for MLM’s. flashy videos with young people talking about “the product” are trying to get YOU to buy the product and then hock it to your friends. and for the love of god, do NOT be tempted to join a known MLM. no one is buying essential oils, or make up, or protein powder, or lip gloss. they’re just not.
7. if you don’t know what business you’re applying for, it’s probably not legit. a lot of ads don’t have the company name in them, or any real identifying features. they say things like “do you want to be a part of a growing company with an amazing work environment?” and things to that effect. you should be able to know what company you’ll be potentially working for, who your employer will be, and how much money you’ll potentially be making.
remember, getting a job means giving them your address, social security number, and sometimes your routing number for direct deposit. i’m not trying to be alarmist or sound hyper-paranoid here, but there are people out there taking advantage of folks who are now out of work due to stay at home orders, and i want you all to be safe. again, i wish i had tips, ways you could find the legitimate employers, and best practices for job hunting in these times, but all i can do right now is pass on my experience and hopefully help you be able to weed out the fake postings that are currently flooding job postings right now. please be safe, i love you all. <3
