Scams, scams, scams! (applying, interview, application, employer) - Work and Employment -Jobs, employers, employees, hiring, resumes, occupations, government, laws, unions, contracts, workers, part-time - City-Data Forum

chai26 · 05-27-2010, 03:06 PM

Recently, several of the jobs I've applied to have been scams. These aren't the common sense, misspelled, work from home type jobs either. These are jobs in my local paper, on monster.com, careerbuilder.com, and maybe a few from craiglist. Most are administrative/clerical jobs. They are very realistic and detailed, mostly under "confidential" employer. They even have locations around town, though they don't give the exact address.

Anyhow, I usually get something back from the employer about "go to this site to apply" and then they want a lot of personal information. After doing further research from the e-mails it's obvious they are scams. These people are getting good! For the record, before I apply/send resume to something on craigslist I send an e-mail first asking more about the opportunity. If I don't get a response from a human than I move on. 4/5 times I get the standard e-mail of "I want you to be my personal assistant while I'm away at work in Britian. I'll pay you 1k a week" blah blah blah.

Is anyone else having this problem? I've gotten it a lot lately. I've been happy that I've seen more job postings in my area, but it seems they're all scams

GypsySoul22 · 05-27-2010, 03:28 PM

I guess crooks are getting desperate, too.
My advice is NEVER give out your SS # if you can avoid it, until the offer is made. If they want to do a background check, then wait till the interview. Make sure it is a legit place.

chai26 · 05-27-2010, 03:52 PM

Yep as soon as I see them asking for SS# I hit delete. I wanted to apply to Marriott a few weeks ago, but their website wanted my social and I wasn't comfortable with giving it over the internet. So I called the HR dept. here at the local Marriott that was hiring and left a message explaining that I really wanted to apply, but wasn't comfortable giving my social security number out. I asked if I could come in and fill something out and they never called back. Ohwell!

artsyguy · 05-27-2010, 04:09 PM

A ton of big corporations have that policy. I know Border's does that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chai26

Yep as soon as I see them asking for SS# I hit delete. I wanted to apply to Marriott a few weeks ago, but their website wanted my social and I wasn't comfortable with giving it over the internet. So I called the HR dept. here at the local Marriott that was hiring and left a message explaining that I really wanted to apply, but wasn't comfortable giving my social security number out. I asked if I could come in and fill something out and they never called back. Ohwell!

chai26 · 05-27-2010, 04:20 PM

I would be fine filling it out on an application and handing it over to a person, but I'm not filling it out on the internet. I've had my identity stolen twice in the past two years! Not going down that road again.

myrc60 · 05-27-2010, 04:24 PM

There is one outfit where I live that advertises low-level jobs at $16/hr. It's always $16/hr and jobs around here just don't pay that high for data entry, switchboard jobs. If the pay sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

goyanks57 · 05-27-2010, 05:00 PM

There are a lot of ways to tell if an online job posting is a scam. I'll give you a list (in no particular order) of ways to tell if something is a scam.

1. The company name isn't listed anywhere in the ad.
2. The headline of the ad reads something like "EARN $1,500 A WEEK AT HOME!"
3. The ad tells you to call a 1-800 number for more information.
4. The ad tells you to send your resume to an @gmail, @hotmail, or @yahoo account.
5. The ad contains contradictory information and poor spelling and grammar.

I'm sure there's a lot more ways to tell that the ad is a scam, but that list is a decent start.

GypsySoul22 · 05-27-2010, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myrc60

There is one outfit where I live that advertises low-level jobs at $16/hr. It's always $16/hr and jobs around here just don't pay that high for data entry, switchboard jobs. If the pay sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I agree...it's more like $12, especially on sites like Craigs List.

chai26 · 05-27-2010, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goyanks57

1. The company name isn't listed anywhere in the ad.
2. The headline of the ad reads something like "EARN $1,500 A WEEK AT HOME!"
3. The ad tells you to call a 1-800 number for more information.
4. The ad tells you to send your resume to an @gmail, @hotmail, or @yahoo account.
5. The ad contains contradictory information and poor spelling and grammar.

Good advice. However, the jobs I've been applying to don't meet any of the above except there is #1. It's listed as "confidential" which unfortunately a lot of legit companies do too (I guess to dodge phone calls). It's not going to stop me from applying to anything I see posted that looks real though. It just bums me out that I was so excited to finally see some jobs listed and most of them have come back as scams.

On another note, I applied to two jobs with a big name company and they sent me a rejection e-mail, but offered to "help" me in their e-mail with a resource for job searching. They put in a link for some search engine that they're partnered with.

WannaliveinGreenville · 05-28-2010, 04:07 PM

Thats because the scammers go ON Monster.Jobs, CareerBuilder , HotJobs and you name it ! They go on there then email you with an immediate OFFER without NEVER having met you. Or they do the Instant Message Interview , Ludacrious !

99.9% of Craigs List Jobs are SCAMS !

If your local bank says to come down to ZYX Street and fill out an app then you can be sure thats a real job.

When an anonymous person emails you ,asks you for PERSONAL information , offers a VERY high wage for few hours worked , you can bet you are dealing with a possible scammer.