Job Scams: How to Spot and Avoid Them

Job scams most often exist to trick out information or money. Sometimes, they also extort free labor. For remote work, scams are even more common. After all, you do not visit the company’s office, so you have even less proof of its legitimacy than an office worker. 

With advancements in AI, scams are often more difficult to spot. Scam listings appear polished and safe due to being composed with the help of ChatGPT or other tools. Because of AI, some warning signs (like poor grammar or bad structure) might no longer be relevant. Fortunately, there are other signs of scam listings, which we are going to consider in this article. Knowing about scams helps you not fall for one!

Common Remote Job Scams

Scammers are inventive, and there are a lot of job scams nowadays. Here are a few examples.

• Making a purchase. You are asked to buy something from the recruiter with the promise of reimbursement. It can be, for example, equipment you would need for work. However, you will not receive the equipment (nor the reimbursement). 
• Reshipping. Your job is to repackage and reship goods for a great salary with shipping costs paid. Except the payment or salary never comes, and you most likely shipped some stolen goods.
• Initial fee. Whenever you are asked for an initial fee to start working (for example, to purchase a product you would sell), it is a scam or a pyramid scheme. The latter are schemes that require you to recruit more people into the scheme to earn anything (even though there is technically a product or products to sell). In the end, a pyramid scheme can be considered a scam as well depending on the legislation in your country.

Who is going to believe a con artist? Everyone if she is good.

Andy Griffith, producer

Key Warning Signs of Job Scams

But examples are not enough to protect one from scams. Fortunately, there are a lot of specific warning signs to consider.

Excessive Payment

If the promised salary is too substantial, especially combined with few hours or no experience required, it may be too good to be true. Most likely, the job does not exist. The scammers simply want something from you — data or money — and use the pretense of a job to get it.

Ghost Jobs

This type of job is technically a scam, although it is usually not as dangerous as other scam jobs. You only waste some time. Indeed, a ghost job involves legitimate companies creating job listings for reasons other than recruitment. For example, they do it to pretend that their company is growing. Or they might want to make its employees feel replaceable. There is no job, and you will waste your time trying to apply.

Since the company is real, it can be difficult not to fall victim to ghost jobs. The companies that practice this type of fraudulent job posting report that they even interview people for these non-existent jobs. However, you can check the previous posts by the same company on most platforms. Then, you can see if they just keep putting up one and the same job listing again and again. If they do, it might be a ghost job.

Social Media and Website

It is generally a good idea to check the social media and website of the company you are considering a job from. Note that nowadays, AI makes it easier to create accounts that are similar to the real ones. Try searching Google for the official website and social media of a company. If those are new or empty, it is best not to trust them. If they are not new, but it is not clear from them what the company does, it is best to try your luck with another listing. 

Upfront Payments

If a recruiter asks you to pay for anything, including materials, products, and equipment, it is likely a scam. You do not need to pay to start working, not even for training. A legitimate company will always pay for your onboarding and, if needed, equipment. The only exception might be you having to buy the equipment before they reimburse you because you live too far away for shipping. But even then, you would not be paying the company that is hiring you. You would be buying that equipment from local stores.

Unprofessional Communication

Typos and excessive emojis, as well as all caps, may be a sign of a scam. Companies that value their reputation generally try to employ someone with good command of English for their communications. It can, of course, be another language, but the point stands. Most companies want their messages to look professional.

An additional thing to pay attention to is the email address. The use of a personal email address, for example, @gmail.com or @yahoo.com, is suspicious. A professional recruiter and especially an employer will probably use an email with the name of their company rather than a generic address.

Finally, check if the email address is correct and corresponds to the one on the company’s website. For example, the website lists hr@company.com as their HR email address, but you were messaged from hr@companyy.com. Minor changes in the name of the company in the email address are a sure sign of a scam. 

Test Tasks

On the one hand, if a recruiter is not testing you rigorously, it is an issue. The job market is tough these days. A real employer will be interviewing you for the job at least once and likely multiple times. The interviewers will be human as well, not AI bots. Also, many recruiters want you to complete a test task. If you are being offered the job straight away, it is a red flag. If the recruiter tries to make you urgently decide to take the job, it is a massive red flag.

However, excessive test tasks can also be a scam. If the test task looks more like unpaid labor, it may be best to either request a fee for it or not perform it. Use your knowledge of the market to determine what is excessive and ask for help and recommendations on various expert platforms if unsure.

Where Are the Interviews Held?

It is common to use Zoom or Google Meet for remote interviews. Alternatively, you might be asked for a Teams interview, which is also normal. However, it is not so common to carry out interviews in personal messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp. Be careful if that is the setting the recruiter selects for you and check the company online again.

Additional Red Flags

• Strange currency. Find out what payment the employer offers. It should be regular currency, not crypto and definitely not gift cards.
• Persistence. The scammer does not want you to think about their offer. They will spam you with messages and constantly call you if they can. And they will try to pressure you into accepting what they proposed. They will usually claim that you are about to lose an opportunity.
• Unfamiliar software. If you are asked to download software you are not familiar with, it may be a scam.

What to Do to Avoid Job Scams?

Avoiding job scams becomes increasingly difficult. However, here are a few recommendations that should help.

Research

It is a lot of work, but to truly protect yourself from scammers, you have to research the opportunities you see. Always check the companies and individuals that do not appear trustworthy. And, frankly, it would not be paranoid to research even those that appear fine. 

• Use Google search to find the official website of the company that interests you. Check the website for critical information, including contacts.
• Check out the social media of the company. Empty or recently created social media are, as we mentioned, a red flag. 
• Check out the company’s reviews, including the ones on its website and on other websites. A good option is TrustPilot. 
• Check the recruiter. Is their name on the company’s website? If you are very worried, consider reaching out to the company and asking them about the recruiter to see if they are really employed there. 
• Search the name of the company with the words “fraud” or “scam.” You might find something interesting. 

Protect Your Information

It is not always possible to stay completely safe in the modern world. What we mean is that your phone number is probably already in the hands of scammers or within their reach. However, you can protect the rest of your private information. Do not post it anywhere and do not give it out to people claiming to be recruiters. At least, not until you have researched their company and, possibly, signed the contract.

Unsolicited Contacts

Sometimes, someone who calls themselves a recruiter (or even an employer) contacts you. It is not necessarily a scam, but there are some warning signs.

• First, check if you have a resume available online. If you do not, then it is most likely a scam.
• Second, check what the recruiter offers. If you are promised a job immediately, it is probably a scam. If you are invited to take part in a recruitment process, then the recruiter might be legitimate.
• Third, check the company. Does it have a website? Does the website appear legitimate? If you cannot find any sort of online presence for the company, it might be a scam.
• If there are any other warning signs, including requests for paying upfront, it is a scam, and it is better not to interact with the recruiter. 

Reporting Job Scams

It is best not to engage with job scammers. If you are already in conversation with someone you suspect to be a scammer, it is fine to ghost them. However, you can help protect others from scammers. Here is a list of actions you can take.

• Make screenshots of the job listing and any communication you have with the scammer. 
• If you can, report the listing, for example, to the Federal Trade Commission if you are in the US.
• Report the listing to the job board as well. Most modern job search websites have the option to report an issue or a scam.
• You can also reach out to the company the scammers impersonate. That would help it greatly.
• Make a post calling out the scam. You can use any community you visit often that is concerned with job seeking. Make sure that more people know about the scam.

Job Scams: In Conclusion

Scams are very common nowadays, including job scams. To avoid them, you need to be vigilant and research companies and offers that appear suspicious. Do not trust listings that are too good to be true, as well as excessive test tasks and companies that do not invite you to interviews. And if you can, report the scams you spot.