Tech Talk - Employment Scams
 | Author:
Victor Sample
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
Employment Scams Victor Sample Employment scams have been around a long time. The scammers typically promise high pay for easy work with short, flexible hours: Make $10,000 a week working from home stuffing envelopes. These jobs usually require you to invest in startup fees – which of course, you have to get from the “employer”. Once the “startup” cost has been paid the employer disappears or finds some reason that your work is not acceptable and you are always out the “startup” fees. It used to be that the scams were pretty easy to spot: you are NOT going to make $10,000 per week stuffing envelopes; there are glaring spelling mistakes in the ad; nothing is actually said about the employer.
But, as with all scams, the scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated. They post jobs on bulletin boards and keep the job sounding reasonable. The offered pay is more in-line with what you might actually expect to get paid; they use reasonable-sounding company names; they set up fake websites for the companies that seem to indicate the company is legitimate and successful.
Sometimes the scammers pretend to be from actual legitimate companies. They use “spoofed” email addresses that look like they are coming from a legitimate company. The scammers will set up phone interviews or online interviews using tools like Zoom. After the interview, they will ask you for your personal information like your social security number. They may even send official documents like W-2 forms that need to be filled out and returned. Once they have your personal information they can obtain credit cards or take out loans in your name.
Some of the more sophisticated scammers may require you to buy training materials or sign up for a training class all offered by another company and say they will “reimburse” you for the expenses. Of course, the other company is a fake company that is just there to get your credit card information or maybe a check.
Even more sophisticated scammers will actually send you a “reimbursement” check to pay for these expenses ahead of time, but you still need to make the payment with your credit card. It is all very professional and risk-free – until your bank contacts you to inform you that the check you received bounced or was just a plain fake check.
The scammers may even be using you to launder money. The check they send you to “reimburse” you may actually clear through the bank and you are not out any actual money. But the source of the check was from scammers that are using you to launder the money - and YOU can be arrested, prosecuted and go to prison for the money laundering.
I read about a college professor that was taken in by scammers (not an employment scam, but a scam nonetheless) who tried to cash a check that had been altered (very professionally) and was not a valid check. The whole scam was an interstate scam so the FBI was involved. The victim of the scam was arrested, prosecuted and went to federal prison for his involvement in the money laundering scheme.
Like all scams, your best defense is just to be careful. If you see a job listing whether it’s from an unsolicited email, a bulletin board or even on a legitimate job search site and you think you might be interested in, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Don’t just assume it’s a valid job listing; don’t assume because they have a website they are a legitimate business. Check the better business bureau; check the appropriate Secretary of State office; be very wary of companies that want to hire you without having you come to an actual office to sign papers. And NEVER just pay for training materials or a training course out of your own money. A legitimate company will send you the materials or enlist you in the training course and pay for the training.
ALWAYS BE CAREFUL!
